Dreamers of Beauty
by Gildir
Summary: The Sixth Doctor visits Sharon on Unicepter to warn her of an impending invasion. Now complete.
1. Android Shock

**Dreamers of Beauty**

This story serves as a sequel to the _Doctor Who Magazine_ comic strip "Dreamers of Death" by Steve Moore. The opening paragraph of the story is a quote from the final panel of that strip. The Jackson Pollock in the Doctor's bedroom was first mentioned in Gary Russell's novel _Divided Loyalties_; the Sherlock Holmes quote comes from "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter". I do not own the characters of the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor Allen. _Doctor Who_ is a trademark of the BBC.

**Part One: Android Shock**

**I**

"_I'll __**try**__, Sharon… But you know the __**TARDIS**__… If I set the controls for __**Unicepter**__… It'll probably put me in __**Blackcastle**__!"_

The Doctor awoke. Although he seldom slept, every few months weariness set in and sent him into a prolonged slumber, almost a hibernation. In his dreams he wandered through a personal history so temporally tangled that parts of it were half-forgotten, even by himself.

He sat up in bed, gazing groggily at the Jackson Pollock on the wall of his TARDIS bedroom. In his newly-awakened state, he could scarcely recall anything about the artist except how much he looked like Ed Harris.

Changing out of his pale blue pyjamas, the Doctor pulled on his yellow-and-black striped trousers, white shirt and multicoloured waistcoat, breathing a mental sigh of relief that his predestined future companion Mel was not yet in the TARDIS to nag him about the snug fit of his clothes. And yet, in a way, he wished he _had_ met Mel already. Since Grant's departure, life in the TARDIS had seemed a trifle lonely.

Stumbling into the console room, he selected from the coat-rack his older patchwork coat, the one without patches of blue. He had come to feel that the blue did not blend well with the other colours, after all – another indication, he proudly told himself, that his dress-sense was improving with each regeneration.

Switching on the scanner, he felt his hearts sink slightly as the view reminded him of where he was. Bleak, industrial and rainy as ever, Blackcastle, England stretched away before him like a comic book artist's vision of Fascist Britain. The TARDIS was parked in an empty lot behind a disused warehouse, but a gap between buildings provided the Doctor with a gloomy vista of the aesthetically unpleasing city.

"Of all the places in all the infinite cosmos, why did I materialise you here, old girl?" the Doctor asked, patting the TARDIS control console. "Oh, yes, I remember – I had to defeat a party of Zarbi from the time of the Animus' reign on Vortis, who were trying to turn Blackcastle into a complex of food storage units. I should have left them to get on with it!"

The Doctor glanced at the navigational controls, wondering where to travel next. As he looked at the coordinates of Blackcastle on the display, a smile slowly spread across his cherubic face. He had remembered his dream, a dream undoubtedly brought on by the TARDIS' present location.

"Sharon! Of course! I haven't seen her in centuries – from my perspective, at least. I always meant to attend her wedding, but –"

The Doctor frowned briefly. Although he could theoretically use the TARDIS to reach any spatio-temporal location, it somehow felt wrong to visit his old friend so soon after last seeing her, when he himself had so long been remiss in not visiting her. On the other hand, it would scarcely do to aim for a time when Sharon was a grandmother.

"Six months after her wedding! That's when I'll materialise," he said aloud. "I can apologise for not being at her wedding, and we can catch up on her latest activities.

"While some of my recent companions may have felt me to be an insensitive and ungracious character in my present incarnation," he announced grandiloquently to no one in particular, "I in fact remain that which I have always striven to be – the soul of politeness."

**II**

The massive, heavily armoured spacecraft glided through the silence of space toward the small farming planet. An observer would have been struck by the grace and beauty of the craft, despite its warlike purpose. Shaped somewhat like an Earth fish, its intricate pattern of armoured scales suggested that the intelligences that designed it took pleasure in the harmonious interplay of form and function.

But there were no observers. The planet Unicepter IV feared no attack, had no robotic eyes in orbit to detect intruders. Nonetheless, the approaching spaceship maintained communications silence and was cloaked from detection by all but the most sophisticated equipment. Its occupants intended to leave nothing to chance.

"Orbit established, Leader."

"Excellent. Transmat the lab to the designated coordinates."

On the diagnostic schematic of the ship's interior that occupied one wall of the bridge, a large module of the ship simply vanished – to reappear elsewhere, the Warship Leader knew. The first phase was ready to begin.

**III**

The Doctor thumped the control console of his TARDIS in irritation. As usual, its steering mechanism was somewhat recalcitrant. Leaving the Blackcastle of 1986, he had set the coordinates for Unicepter at a time several months after his last visit, only to materialise in Blackcastle again – in late 1980, this time.

"Why does this TARDIS of mine always seem to do the opposite of what I tell it?" He gave a theatrically exasperated sigh. "The opposite…"

Then he smiled. He had again remembered his final words to his former travelling companion Sharon. And he also now remembered the second time he had battled Beep the Meep, when he had been on his way to Sharon's wedding…

"Of course!" he beamed. "If the TARDIS insists on landing in Blackcastle whenever I set the controls for Unicepter, then, if I set the coordinates for _Blackcastle_…"

Quickly punching in a new set of coordinates, the Doctor stepped back, pleased with himself, as the time rotor again rose and fell. Only a minute or so later – as well as time could be judged by the occupant of a time machine – the rotor again came to a halt and the Doctor again activated the scanner screen.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. "Unicepter IV, fourth planet out from a quite average Class G star, two moons, rotational period 25.1 hours…"

The Doctor frowned. Something was not right.

"Why are there three moons on the screen?" he asked himself. "And one of them is an odd shape. Small, too…"

Staring at the screen, he groped with his right hand to increase the magnification of the image. The screen pixellated and then cleared again. The Doctor let out a low whistle.

"A warship! With hostile intentions toward Unicepter, I'll be bound. No time to determine its origin, I should warn Sharon and Vernor without delay."

He pressed the sequence of buttons to initiate the TARDIS' descent from orbit to Unicepter's one major city, inwardly wondering why it seemed to take him so long to get anywhere in this regeneration – even without a companion with whom to bicker for fifteen minutes.

**IV**

Trevor Allen yawned. Guarding the creatures that had turned Unicepter's entertainment economy upside down, then proved to be psychic vampires who could coalesce into giant monsters, was less exciting than it sounded.

For the seventh time that morning, he checked the readings on the psychic field that kept his charges dormant and harmless. The field was stable. The furry brown creatures remained motionless in their enclosures.

Andrew Calla, a chubby young man who was one of Trevor's two fellow keepers, was sat in a chair reading _Hyperdrive Magazine_. Billy wouldn't be in until 17 o'clock for the evening shift.

"Slinth keeping," Trevor said to the room at large. "The most exciting job in the galaxy, am I right?"

"Right," Andrew agreed without looking up from his reading.

Trevor felt a twinge of conscience. Andrew, like Billy, had been a Dreamer prior to the Slinth Crisis, a year ago now. In one night, their creative and fulfilling profession had ceased to exist. They had been selected as slinth keepers by the planetary authorities because of their knowledge of and experience with the creatures.

Trevor, although younger than his two colleagues, had been made Head Keeper because of his degree from the University of Mars – a double concentration in Biology and Zoo Studies. The generous salary went a long way toward paying off his gigantic student loans, but did not quite compensate for the tedium of his job.

Sometimes Trevor wondered why his brother Vernor, who had both a university degree and experience as a Dreamer, had not applied for the Head Keeper job. But, in truth, he understood. Vernor wanted to put the fleeting era of the slinths behind him.

Rising from his chair, Trevor strolled out of the control room and paced back and forth in front of the slinth enclosures, which were rather like pig-pens on Earth centuries earlier. The enclosures lined a long corridor, which was replicated in the other three wings of the building and on two upper floors. Each enclosure was full of ten or fifteen brown furry creatures, as large as small dogs but with neckless heads at the front of the body and small feet that were invisible underneath them. All were lying on their stomachs or backs, fast asleep.

"I wonder what they dream about," Trevor said as he walked back into the control room.

"Probably the days when they were the in-thing on Unicepter," Andrew said.

After the supposedly harmless slinths had caused the deaths of several Dreamers and their clients, there had been widespread sentiment on Unicepter that the creatures should be destroyed as vermin. But not even Unicepter's aristocratic and somewhat autocratic government dared defy the animal-rights clauses written into the Galactic Charter. Animals could no more be destroyed for their misdeeds than could intelligent life-forms, not unless there was no alternative whatsoever. Therefore, Unicepter had had to find another way.

"Do you still know which one was yours?" Trevor asked Andrew.

"Sure I do. Slinth #1092, fourth pen on the right, third wing, second level. He used to be called Dafi."

Trevor glanced at Andrew. There was a bitter wistfulness in his eyes.

"Just going to check the supply closet," Trevor told Andrew. "Won't be long. Not much to do round here till lunchtime."

The closet was located halfway down the corridor of slinth pens. Trevor stepped inside and switched on the lights. One of the fixtures needed to be replaced, so one end of the room remained dim.

Trevor glanced around. Emergency report forms, first aid supplies, all unused, all neatly stacked. Cartons of concentrated slinth chow, to be fed to their charges in the unlikely event that the automatic systems ever failed. All in its place. All boringly perfect. Trevor turned back toward the door.

"Why they even hired us instead of setting up the place to run automatically, I'll never –"

Trevor froze. There was suddenly an odd electrical smell in the air. The sound of the storeroom's silence seemed to alter pitch, as though the pressure in his ears had changed.

Trevor turned slowly around, shivering inside. At the other end of the room, barely visible in the dim light, was something that should not have been there. It stepped forward.

It was a child. Or something like a child. Its small silver body glittered in the half-light with flecks of brilliant colour, red and purple and gold, like the fabled gemstones of old Earth. Its face was of an unnatural beauty, beyond that of the most beautiful children Trevor had ever seen. Trevor opened his mouth, but forgot to cry out.

The child took another step toward him. In its right hand, which shone like a silver glove, was a large bracelet. It glowed green from within, like an emerald containing imprisoned lightning. A silver cylinder was set into the bracelet – powering it?

Before Trevor knew quite what was happening, the child had reached him and had slipped the bracelet onto his left wrist. Again came the electrical smell and the strange sensation against his eardrums, and suddenly Trevor Allen was alone in the room.

But he was, in a sense, no longer Trevor Allen.

**V**

Sharon Davies Allen sat in front of her computer, working on her practice midterm for Earth History II.

"In the reign of Chia-Ching, Emperor of China, which year was known as the Year of the Pirate?

a) 1520

b) 1521

c) 1522

d) 1523"

The young, dark-skinned woman quickly punched in "c", then groaned as a red rectangle containing the word "WRONG" flashed on the screen.

"'WRONG'? Blimey, I was there! I should know!" Sharon sighed, and then smiled as her husband Vernor looked up from his own computer, where he was studying Alien Programming Languages.

"Sorry, Vernor. But it's so frustrating sometimes, when you've travelled through time, to see that people don't know what they're talking about…"

Vernor returned his attention to his own screen. He spoke seriously, but there was a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"Sharon?"

"Mm-hmm?"

"There's one question I've been meaning to ask you for a while now."

"And what would that be?"

"What exactly does 'blimey' mean?"

Sharon looked up at him. He was grinning wickedly. She laughed.

"Blimey, I don't know!"

They both laughed at that. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Vernor said, pushing back his chair.

"No, I will," Sharon said, saving her practice test as she got up from behind her desk. "I'm not doing well on these questions anyway."

Her mind still full of the history of Earth, Sharon walked out into the hall and to the front door, scarcely even wondering whom she would find there. If she had wondered, she would not have been likely to guess correctly.

Sharon opened her front door and came face-to-face with a tall man with blond curly hair, dressed in one of the most bizarre costumes she had ever seen. His podgy face beamed with pleasure as he saw her, and he threw out his long arms in enthusiastic greeting.

"Sharon! How wonderful to see you again! I just thought I'd pop in and let you know that Unicepter is being invaded by aliens."

Sharon took a step back, trying to remember if she had heard of there being any insane asylums on Unicepter during her twelve months on the planet.

"And you are…?" she said slowly.

"Sharon, it's I, the Doctor!" the strange man said cheerfully.

"The Doctor?" Sharon's head spun. "I knew a man who called himself that once… But you're not him!"

"Of course I am!" the stranger retorted indignantly. "Don't you remember, Sharon? Beep the Meep, werewolves controlled by Daleks, Brimo the Time Witch… I admit my appearance may not be quite as you recall, but surely that which is on the inside is what counts…"

Sharon shook her head again. "But you can't have changed your face like that! D'you have plastic surgery or something? Must have cost a mint!"

The Doctor laughed.

"No, Sharon, my people can trade in their bodies, so to speak, if they get worn out or damaged. But I assure you that I am the same Time Lord you knew, as witty, wise and sartorially splendid as ever."

"And a fair bit more conceited, it sounds like."

"Ah, well, as an old acquaintance of mine once said, 'I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are –'"

"'– and to underestimate oneself is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers,'" Vernor finished for him, joining Sharon in the doorway.

"Vernor, this is the Doctor. At least I think it is," Sharon said, her head still spinning.

"Vernor Allen! What a delight to see you again, my good man," the Doctor said, shaking his hand. "I never realised you were a Holmesian during our brief former acquaintance."

"I had to get my imagination from somewhere," Trevor replied. "My first attempts at Dreaming were Holmes pastiches. But that's all over now, of course…"

"Yes, after my last visit your occupation was gone, as another friend of mine might say. So how have you both been occupying yourselves?"

"Well, Sharon here has been studying for her college degree with Unicepter University's online program, and I've retrained as a computer scientist."

"Computers? How fascinating! Tell me, what do you think of the Markham Paradigm?"

"Hold on a minute, you two," Sharon interrupted, raising her hand warningly. "Before you both get carried away with your high-tech stuff – what's all this about aliens invading the planet?"

**VI**

It was lunchtime at the Slinth House. Andrew Calla watched as the slinths' food was automatically dispensed to them in concentrated pill form. The furry brown creatures lazily picked up the pills in their mouths and slowly chewed them.

Andrew idly wondered whether he should go to the second level of the third wing to watch Dafi eat. It would be something to relieve the tedium. It would also make him sad, though. Maybe not.

He glanced over at Trevor, who was seated in a chair, staring thoughtfully into space. When Trevor, who was never talkative, had returned from checking the supply closet that morning, he had seemed quieter than usual for several minutes. He had then become unusually chatty, discussing the previous evening's tentaball match on Zubenelgenubi IV for a good hour. In the last few minutes, though, Trevor had become quiet again.

Suddenly Trevor stood, as though he had come to a decision – or as though one had been made for him.

"Right," he said. "There's something I have to show you, Andrew."

Andrew turned idly, not expecting to see anything of great interest. Trevor extended his right hand toward Andrew. For a moment the hand was empty; then there was something in it.

It was a bracelet, glowing green like some kind of novelty item from a cheap gift shop, with a silver cylinder set into it. As it appeared in Trevor's hand there was a strange metallic smell, and Andrew's eardrums popped. A strange shiver ran down his spine, but he ignored it.

"Hey, neat trick," he said. "I didn't know you were an amateur conjurer, Trevor."

Trevor replied in an unnaturally calm voice.

"These bracelets are new standard equipment for all slinth keepers," he said. "I received the order from the planetary government today. Put this on, Andrew."

Andrew Calla was not a very observant person. His first girlfriend had broken up with him when she realized he didn't know what colour her eyes were after dating her for a year. He winced at his own stupidity as he realised that Trevor was wearing a similar bracelet himself. He tried to remember when he had first seen it. Surely Trevor had not been wearing it when he arrived for his shift that morning?

"Put this on, Andrew," Trevor repeated.

Andrew blinked at the strange device.

"But what is it?" he asked. "Does it have something to do with the psychic field?"

"Put this on, Andrew," Trevor said for the third time, in the same unnaturally calm voice.

Andrew, somewhat startled, looked into his supervisor's eyes. They were calm, clear and open. Why was he so concerned? Everything was fine. His supervisor had asked him to do something, at the request of the government. Why had he not done it yet?

Andrew Calla took the bracelet from Trevor Allen's hand and slipped it onto his own wrist.

And in that moment he was no longer Andrew Calla.

**VII**

After three hours on Sharon's visiphone, the Doctor had not managed to get anyone in the planetary government to believe his warnings about an alien warship in orbit. He had spoken to an under-under-secretary of planetary defence, who had hung up on him when he had admitted that he did not know the warship's planet of origin, and to an officious but unintelligent immigration clerk who had demanded his student visa number.

He had, however, gotten through to reporters at two of Unicepter's more tabloid-y TV stations, who had promised to carry the story on the afternoon news. While he was on the phone Sharon and Vernor were pretending to continue their work on their computer terminals, but actually conferring about their strange visitor.

"Is he really the Doctor?" Vernor asked for the tenth time.

"He must be!" Sharon replied in a stage whisper. "He remembers things that only the Doctor would know."

"But he looks completely different!"

"Not completely," Sharon mused. "He's still tall, and he has the same big nose."

"And he's still poking it into things," Vernor remarked.

Their colloquy was interrupted by the Doctor slamming the phone receiver down.

"Can you imagine?" he asked as he approached them. "I spoke to that last lady for ten minutes, and then she asked me to repeat everything because she hadn't been writing it down!"

"I'm not surprised, with the five-syllable words you were using," Sharon said.

"Good old Sharon!" the Doctor beamed. "Always appreciative of my finer qualities! I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend your wedding."

"Yeah, why weren't you there?" Sharon asked. "Were you saving a planet or something?"

"As a matter of fact, I was battling our mutual friend Beep the Meep. Remember him?"

"Urgh!" A look of disgust crossed Sharon's face. "How could I forget?"

"Well, here I am now, and I extend my felicitations on your nuptial celebrations," the Doctor said. "Now, one or two of those news people said they would carry the story of the alien threat, so let us tune in to their reportage."

There was a brief delay as the Doctor tried to figure out how to turn on Sharon and Vernor's holo-TV set, finally giving up and asking them for help. As the unit warmed up, a serious-looking brown-haired man with a thin moustache appeared, seated in front of a backdrop of three large circles.

"And now an exclusive Vis-News report. A reliable source has called in to our news hotline with word that an alien warship has been detected in orbit around Unicepter. The craft is reported to be large and heavily armed, but its origin and intentions remain unknown. Government sources declined to confirm the report or comment on the story."

"I knew I should have ascertained the origin of the warship before leaving the TARDIS," the Doctor sighed. "But I was extremely desirous of telling the two of you about the situation. Several of those obstructionists with whom I spoke on the telephone were quite obstreperous in their demands that I provide them with the complete _curriculum vitae_ of the invaders…"

"Doctor, what's this story? I'm trying to hear!" Sharon said, raising a hand to shush the Doctor.

"…park officials say there is no danger from the metallic smell, and that the park will remain open for business until 20 o'clock this evening. In other news…"

"That's the Moonrise Amusement Park in Lord Veith Street," Sharon said as an image of an old-fashioned roller-coaster disappeared from view.

"And visitors detected a strange metallic smell there today, did they?" the Doctor said thoughtfully. "That could derive from the transmatting of some large object from orbit."

"Surely that's a leap in logic," Vernor objected. "It might simply be an electrical problem or a minor chemical spill."

"Possibly," the Doctor said. "But it is somewhat suggestive that it coincides with the arrival of the warship in orbit. It may be nothing, but we should investigate."

The Doctor abruptly turned and strode toward the door, calling over his shoulder.

"Put on your hats, Sharon, Vernor," he said. "We're off for an afternoon of sybaritic splendour!"

He disappeared through the front door, leaving Sharon and Vernor gaping at each other.

"Did he have such a rich vocabulary when you knew him before?" Vernor asked.

**VIII**

A somewhat subdued, nervous crowd of pleasure-seekers milled about at the Moonrise Amusement Park. It was summer on Unicepter, and the sun was still some way from the horizon, but a chill seemed to have fallen on the visitors to the theme park, many of whom had apparently heard the strange, unconfirmed news reports.

As Sharon, Vernor and the Doctor wandered through a convincing replica of the moss-covered Ruined Walls of Rigel VI, they saw that mothers were clutching their children's hands more tightly than usual. Men glanced around nervously, as though ready to run at the slightest hint of danger. Even a three-legged dog hurried past them as though it wished to be somewhere else.

"The news reports were right, Sharon," the Doctor said, sniffing the air. "There _is_ a strange metallic smell. And I don't know about you, but I feel an electric tingle in my teeth, as though a storm's approaching. Or as though I just bit through a live wire."

"Oh, you do that often, do you?" Vernor asked.

"Only in extreme emergencies," the Doctor replied serenely.

"Everyone's so nervous, Doctor," Sharon said, keeping her voice low. "Why are they staying in the park if they're so scared?"

"They probably had this day planned well in advance and didn't want to waste their money," the Doctor said. "I remember I visited Disneyland Mercury in my last regeneration, and people didn't want to leave even when the Ogrons showed up."

"Your last regeneration… D'you mean your last body?" Sharon asked. "The body you were wearing when I met you?"

"Oh, no, that wasn't my last body, Sharon. I was quite another person for a few years in between there. A pleasant, open-faced chap, somewhat bland. Fond of cricket, though I can't imagine why – such a boring sport…"

"A few years? But it's only been a year since we saw you last," Vernor pointed out.

"Ah, but I am a time traveller, my good man," the Doctor replied. "A chrononaut, a temporal explorer, a dandelion seed adrift on the winds of history. I am not fettered to your experience of the passage of time."

"How long has it been for you since you saw us, then?" Sharon asked a bit sharply.

"Counting the time I spent on my own after leaving you here, and my travels with Nyssa of Traken, and with my private detective friend Frobisher…" The Doctor considered for a moment. "Oh, about a hundred and fifty years, I would say."

Sharon's heart sank.

"A hundred and fifty years?" she said challengingly. "It took you a hundred and fifty years to come back for a visit? And you used up a whole lifetime in the meanwhile?"

The Doctor's mouth dropped open. He looked very much as though he would like to find something else to talk about. Suddenly his face cleared. He had found it.

They had emerged from the labyrinth of ruined walls into a large space of grass, a park within the park, beyond which was the large roller-coaster they had seen on the news. Many families with children were relaxing on the grass, or eating and drinking, taking a break from their enjoyment of the amusement park's attractions.

In the middle of the grassy space was a large floodlight trained on the roller-coaster. It was on a timer and would illuminate the thrill ride once the sun set.

"That's odd…" the Doctor said, frowning.

"What is it?" Vernor asked.

"There's a pool of water around the base of that floodlight," the Doctor remarked. "Surely that's rather hazardous? It can't normally be there. I wonder if it has anything to do with –"

Unfortunately, the Doctor had not kept his voice lowered. Several of the families on the grass, who had probably been at the edge of panic for a couple of hours and could have been set off by anything, rapidly got up and began running away. Some of the remaining park guests stood up and looked around in puzzlement, trying to see whether there was anything wrong.

The Doctor looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, everyone," he shouted. "There isn't necessarily any danger. I was just pointing out the strange presence of the water. The park staff should be informed of this safety hazard…"

**IX**

An alarm sounded shrilly.

"Time Lord technology detected. Powerful sonic device present but inactive."

"Release the security android."

"But we will be detected –"

"If a Time Lord is present, we cannot long escape detection. We must strike pre-emptively. Release the android."

**X**

The Doctor turned away from the pool of water and opened his mouth to say something to Sharon and Vernor. Suddenly there was a scream from behind him.

"What is _that_?!"

The Doctor whirled back to face the floodlight. From the centre of a circle of ripples, a bizarre shape was emerging from the seemingly shallow pool.

"Of course, now that I said that, there _is_ something in the water," the Doctor said resignedly.

It was something like a large squid or octopus, but appeared to be made out of a flexible silver-coloured metal. Its body was covered with what looked like gemstones – purple, green, yellow…

The creature reared up out of the pool on its six tentacles. It raised one tentacle toward a middle-aged man who stood near it, clearly too terrified to run. A bolt of electricity zapped from the tentacle toward him. The man jerked, fell to the grass and lay still.

Suddenly there was pandemonium. Everyone in sight was running, parents dragging their children by the arms or picking them up bodily, mothers with prams knocking other people out of the way with them.

"Run!" Vernor shouted, grabbing Sharon by the hand.

"Which way?"

"The exit turnstiles are this way!" Vernor yelled, pointing to the left between the roller-coaster and the labyrinth. "I used to come here all the time as a kid!"

Sharon and Vernor ran, dodging prams and old people in wheelchairs. From behind them they could hear electrical zaps followed by screams and cries as the creature, in pursuit of the crowd, attacked more victims, but they did not turn to see what was happening.

As they approached the exit turnstiles, they could see they were already almost blocked by the panicked crowd. Nearly pulling Sharon's arm out of its socket, Vernor hurled himself toward the only turnstile left clear, then shoved Sharon in front of him and through the turnstile, following her a moment later.

They ran a few further metres until they were free of the struggling crowd emerging from the turnstiles. Then Sharon turned to look back.

"We're safe!" Vernor exulted.

"The Doctor! We've left him behind!" Sharon shouted.

Peering over the fleeing crowd, now squashed up against the inside of the turnstiles, Vernor glimpsed the tall figure of the Doctor. He was completely cut off from the exit by the crush of people. The metallic squid creature was nearly upon him.

The Doctor turned to face his pursuer. The creature raised a tentacle…

END OF PART ONE


	2. The Takeover

**Dreamers of Beauty**

This story serves as a sequel to the _Doctor Who Magazine_ comic strip "Dreamers of Death" by Steve Moore. Visteen Krane is a character in the _Doctor Who_ books and audios of Justin Richards. I do not own the characters of the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor Allen. _Doctor Who_ is a trademark of the BBC.

**Part ****Two: The Takeover**

**I**

Peering over the fleeing crowd, now squashed up against the inside of the turnstiles, Vernor glimpsed the tall figure of the Doctor. He was completely cut off from the exit by the crush of people. The metallic squid creature was nearly upon him.

The Doctor turned to face his pursuer. The creature raised a tentacle.

As if in answering challenge, the Doctor raised a metallic object he had retrieved from his inside coat pocket. It was as long and heavy as an electric torch from Sharon's era on Earth and covered with knobs and dials. The Doctor pointed it at the android squid and pressed a button.

A brilliant blue light shone from the device, and it emitted a high-pitched whine, so piercing that Sharon and Vernor covered their ears and grimaced with pain. The creature stopped in its tracks, jerked back and forth a few times, and then, surprisingly gently, collapsed to the ground.

"It's all right, everyone," the Doctor called out. "The immediate danger is neutralised. Please file out of the park in a calm, orderly fashion."

The crowd at the exit, turning with difficulty to look over their shoulders, saw that the android was disabled. Their cries of panic slowly subsided into muted whimpers as they began to ease their way out through the turnstiles.

A few minutes later Sharon and Vernor, not standing on ceremony by buying new admission tickets, jumped over one of the turnstiles and rejoined the Doctor, who was kneeling beside the fallen creature. He had trained his sonic device on it again and had prised off a section of its flexible metallic skin, revealing advanced circuitry and motors beneath. Emergency personnel were now streaming into the park from all entrances, tending to the creature's victims.

"Is that a new sonic screwdriver?" Sharon asked. "Cor, it's bigger than it was before!"

"Yes, I call it the 'sonic driver' now," the Doctor said. "I threw it together in my TARDIS workshop the other day. It's much more versatile than the old one."

"I'll bet it uses up more power, though," Vernor observed.

"So it does! Ten times the power, in fact. I'll have to go to Tesco soon to stock up on batteries."

"What happened to the old one?" Sharon asked. "Never thought you'd be parted from that thing!"

The Doctor did not reply. He was peering intently at the circuitry inside the squid creature.

"It's rather attractive, for a killer-squid-android-people-zapper thing," Sharon said. "The design is almost… glam-rock."

"Glam-rock! Yes! That's exactly the word," the Doctor said, patting her on the shoulder. "I'm sure I've encountered this design aesthetic somewhere before."

"Was it that creature that was causing the metallic smell?" Vernor asked.

The Doctor sniffed the piece of the android that he was holding.

"No, there is no discernable aroma," he said. "I am still of the opinion that some large object has been transmatted from the orbiting warship to this amusement park – probably within the last twenty hours."

"But where is this object? If there were something here that shouldn't be, we'd have heard about it, with the jittery mood everyone was in," Vernor pointed out.

The Doctor was resetting dials on his sonic driver. He pointed it up in the air, and then swung it in a circle at shoulder level. Finally he pointed it diagonally at the ground, facing back in the direction of the pool from which the android had emerged.

"That pool shouldn't have been deep enough to accommodate the android," he murmured. "Perhaps the answer lies beneath us…"

The piercing blue light shone again from the front of the device, which began to beep loudly.

"Aha!" the Doctor cried, shutting it off. "Some sort of large module has been transmatted underground, below the theme park. And the soil that was displaced must have been dematerialised at the same instant, or else a major seismic event would have been detected. What a fascinating application of matter transfer technology! It's like nothing I've ever seen before…"

Sharon tapped the Doctor on the shoulder.

"Better put that thing away if you don't want it to look suspicious," she said.

A police officer was walking rapidly toward them. Realising that his device might draw unwelcome attention, the Doctor swiftly slipped it back into his pocket and extended his hand to the officer.

"Have all the wounded been evacuated?" he asked cheerily.

"Aye, and thou'dst best be gettin' on thy way," the policeman replied. "The whole place is bein' cleared oot."

"Certainly, my good man," the Doctor said. "My friends and I have an urgent appointment elsewhere, as it happens.

"We must get back to the TARDIS," he explained to Sharon and Vernor as they walked back toward the turnstiles, "and investigate the structure underneath this theme park."

"And we'd better make it quick," Sharon said. "The invaders have given themselves away by releasing the squid thing."

"You get back into the groove of this sort of thing easily, don't you?" Vernor remarked. Sharon looked quickly at him and saw that he was grinning indulgently at her.

"You were using that sonic thing like a tricorder, Doctor," Sharon said. "I never knew it could do that before."

"A tricorder?" the Doctor said. "I didn't think you were a _Star Trek_ fan, Sharon. You used to say that science fiction rots the brain."

"I never could tell _Star Trek_ from _Star Wars_ at home," Sharon explained. "I had to study _Star Trek_ for my History of Imaginative Fiction college class. It's a required course, now that mankind has spread through the galaxy and all."

"Oh, really?" the Doctor said. "Who's your favourite Kirk: William Shatner, Chris Pine or Visteen Krane?"

"Who's William Shatner?" Sharon asked.

**II**

In the Hall of Government, the Unicepter City Council was holding an emergency meeting to discuss the strange reports and rumours that had circulated that day. Their council table sat under a portrait of Lord Veith, who had died during the Slinth Crisis a year earlier.

Lady Troucal, the Chair of the Council, prepared to call the meeting to order. She was a somewhat severe, mannish-looking woman with a short haircut.

"Are we all here? Ah, Lord Yelreeg, your timing is perfect."

Lord Yelreeg, a chubby, red-faced man with a grey moustache, was making his way to his seat.

"This emergency meeting of the Unicepter City Council will come to order," Lady Troucal said. "The first order of business is the purpose for which we have assembled this evening: to discuss today's troubling events and whether or not there is any truth to the rumours we have heard. Lord Yelreeg, have you spoken to the Planetary Defence Council?"

Lord Yelreeg leaned forward in his chair.

"Yes, I have," he said. "According to the people I know there, there is no evidence whatsoever that any spacecraft from out-system is in orbit. Nothing has been picked up on any of their detection systems. They assure me that the report we all heard on the news this afternoon did not originate from them."

"Lady Noham, what about the police service? What did they have to say about the incident at the theme park?"

Lady Noham, a distractingly attractive woman who favoured plunging necklines, but whose hair tended to look unwashed, smiled as she leaned forward to the microphone.

"The police are investigating the incident, Lady Troucal," she said sweetly. "They have so far formed no conclusions about the nature or origin of the creature that electrocuted the park visitors, and they say that it does not appear to be related to the strange metallic smell."

"What about this strange man who was seen deactivating the creature?" asked Lady Ewor, a heavy-set woman with thick salt-and-pepper hair. "Does anyone know who he is?"

"He apparently left the park a few minutes later," Lady Noham replied. "I had a fascinating talk with Officer McDonald, who spoke briefly to the man and asked him to leave. When the officer examined the creature afterwards, a patch of its skin seemed to have been removed, exposing circuitry underneath."

"Then it was not biological, but some sort of android?" asked Lord Dhur, the fifth member of the Council, a gentlemanly individual who was always impeccably dressed.

"It would appear so. Officer McDonald spoke to a few other stragglers who said they had seen the man examining the creature after it fell. He must have used some kind of device to remove the patch of skin. Officer McDonald is a strong man, but when he tried to prise off some more of the covering on the creature, he could not move it at all."

Lady Noham smiled again, and Lady Troucal rolled her eyes. Lady Noham's unseemly level of interest in Unicepter's public safety personnel was well-known.

"The military are liaising with the police to investigate these events," Lord Yelreeg said. "They say there is no reason to believe there is any connection between the rumours about the spacecraft and the incident at the amusement park."

"In that case, I fail to see that there is much more for us to discuss," Lady Ewor said. "Shall we move to adjourn?"

"There is one person who wishes to speak to us," Lady Troucal said hesitantly. "I was uncertain about calling him here, because I know that three of us already have discussed this amongst ourselves and agreed that there is no need for us to act."

The two male members of the Council looked disturbed by this. They both fidgeted uncomfortably, but said nothing.

"Nonetheless," Lady Troucal continued, "perhaps he deserves to be heard out. Meli, will you ask Mr. Munipalt from the Parks Department to come in?"

As Ms. Meli Kaleek, the Council's Administrator, left the room to inform Mr. Munipalt that he could enter, Lady Noham rolled her eyes.

"I realize that Mr. Munipalt's ancestors came from New Torino," Lady Troucal commented, "where the colonists are somewhat more extroverted than here on Unicepter, and perhaps somewhat more inclined to criminality, but I think we should hear him before we dismiss his concerns – as we will, of course, do. Ah, Mr. Munipalt, you are most welcome before us."

Mr. Munipalt, a large man, stood at the speaker's podium before the Council table, an expression of deep concern on his broad face. He spoke into the microphone, rather unnecessarily, as his voice was deep and powerful.

"Honoured Councillors," he said, "I come before you this evening on a grave matter. I have reason to believe there is something huge buried beneath the amusement park."

**III**

It was standing on the same spot where she had last seen it, on the pavement a short distance from the house of Garret and Camilla Berrace. It looked much the same as it always had, although a hundred and fifty years had passed for its occupant. Sharon felt a lump in her throat as she turned the corner of the street and came in sight of the TARDIS.

Behind her, the Doctor and Vernor were deeply engaged in a conversation about a computer programming concept, the Markham Something-Or-Other. The Doctor apparently knew the concept's inventor, and was vigorously defending it against Vernor's scepticism.

"No, no, you see, the Markham Paradigm causes an artificial intelligence to seek out new technological and conceptual advances, even at the most primitive stage in its own development –"

"Hello, old girl," Sharon said softly, touching the wood-that-was-not-wood of the TARDIS exterior. "How've you been? Is he treating you right?"

"The TARDIS is merely a machine, Sharon," the Doctor said, fumbling in his pocket for the key. "Although she is more intelligent than many organic life-forms I have known."

"I don't know about that, Doctor," Sharon said. "She always seemed to me to have a mind of her own."

The Doctor pushed the door open, and Sharon and Vernor followed him inside. To Vernor, who had never been in the Doctor's time-ship before, the shift of dimensions was startling.

"Sharon told me about this, but that's nothing like seeing it, Doctor," he gasped. "It really _is_ bigger on the inside!"

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," the Doctor said. "Now, to set the coordinates for a point thirty metres below the level of the theme park…"

As the Doctor circled the hexagonal control console, flicking switches, poking buttons and peering at dials, Sharon nudged her husband in the ribs.

"Don't be too sure this will be a short hop," she said in a low voice.

"Why not?" Vernor whispered. "It's only a mile or so back to the amusement park."

"You don't know this thing the way I do," Sharon murmured. "It's not exactly what you'd call reliable. We might end up on Mars, or Mondas, or in Marseilles!"

"I heard that," the Doctor said severely. "Your husband is about to get an excellent demonstration of my TARDIS piloting skills. I flip this switch here…"

The Doctor suited the action to the word. The TARDIS shuddered for a moment and then was still again.

"…_et voila_!" the Doctor said triumphantly. "Here we are, not in Marseilles, but, rather…"

The Doctor activated the scanner screen. The cover slid down to reveal a gloomy vista down a long metal corridor. It was dimly lit, and its ceiling was not high, but there was a certain grandeur in the design of the graceful metal arches that supported the roof.

"What do you say to that, Vernor?" the Doctor asked. "Do you fancy a step into the unknown?"

Sharon glanced at Vernor, gauging his response. Vernor smiled.

"It would appear," he said, "that the game is afoot."

**IV**

"A friend of mine in Planetary Science at the University detected seismic activity early this morning," Mr. Munipalt said.

"Of what order of magnitude?" Lady Noham asked.

"I don't know the technical terms for these things," Munipalt said. "It wasn't strong, I know that much."

Lady Noham and Lady Troucal rolled their eyes at each other.

"But the important thing is," Munipalt continued doggedly, "that the centre of the event was right in the middle of the theme park."

"'Epicentre' is the more correct word, I believe," Lady Troucal said witheringly.

"Whatever it's called, it was in the theme park – right near that floodlight where the creature appeared today," Munipalt said.

"But if this seismic event was minor, how can it bear any relation to these matters?" Lady Ewor asked. Lady Troucal and Lady Noham murmured their agreement.

"'Matter' may be just the right word, Your Ladyship," Munipalt said. "I spoke to another friend of mine at the University, in the Physics Department, and he said that the metallic smell could be due to something very large being transmatted into the ground beneath the theme park. This squid thing _is_ supposed to have come up from underground, you know."

"I don't know much more than you do about these technical matters, Mr. Munipalt," Lady Noham said patronisingly, "but wouldn't the transmatting of a large object into the ground displace quite a bit of soil? And wouldn't that have caused a rather larger seismic event than the one your friend says he detected?"

"That's just the thing," Munipalt said, gesturing excitedly with his large hands. "My buddy in Physics said that an extremely advanced transmat device – one that's only theoretical now – could make the soil vanish at the same moment the object replaced it. He even said that that could explain why the funny smell was so strong – although I have to admit I don't understand why."

"Don't worry, Mr. Munipalt," Lady Noham said sweetly. "I'm sure it would even be over _our_ heads."

Once again Lord Dhur and Lord Yelreeg looked uncomfortable and shifted impotently in their chairs.

"And do you have any further evidence of the presence of this mysterious object beneath the park, Mr. Munipalt?" Lady Troucal asked.

"Yes, I do," Munipalt replied. "I went down to the park this evening – I had to show my Parks ID to five different coppers to get in – and I took some soil samples."

"A pleasant evening's occupation for you, I'm sure, Mr. Munipalt," Lady Troucal said. "And what did you find?"

"I found several substances I've never seen on Unicepter before," Munipalt said. "Some of them I couldn't identify at all. But there was one that I could. The signature was unmistakeable. Tinclavic."

Lord Yelreeg and Lord Dhur looked at each other in surprise. Lady Noham did not quite succeed in suppressing a giggle.

"You must surely be mistaken, Mr. Munipalt," Lady Troucal said coldly. "Tinclavic can only be found on Raaga, on the other side of the galaxy."

"I'm telling you, it was tinclavic!" Munipalt insisted. "And I don't know what else. It must be leaching into the soil from whatever is underground."

"Thank you. I believe we have heard enough," Lady Troucal said. "All those in favour of ending discussion on these topics and allowing the police and the military to do their jobs?"

The three female members of the Council rang the small vote-bells that sat on the table in front of them.

"All opposed?"

The two Lords rang their bells.

"The motion is carried three to two. Mr. Munipalt, thank you for your enlightening testimony."

Munipalt, with a black look on his broad face, slowly left the room, grumbling under his breath. As the door shut behind him, Lady Noham burst out giggling.

"He really does look like a gangster, doesn't he?" she asked Lady Ewor, who smiled in response.

"I really don't appreciate your lack of respect toward that man," Lord Yelreeg said, frowning. "He has done a lot of good for Unicepter over the years."

"I'll bet his 'friends at the University' are on the janitorial staff," Lady Ewor said, setting Lady Noham giggling again.

"It was also inappropriate that the three of you discussed this in advance, without the two of us present," Lord Dhur said, glancing at Lord Yelreeg, who nodded his agreement.

"The three of us control the Council in any case, and there isn't much you can do about it," Lady Ewor said.

"Perhaps Mr. Munipalt's mysterious substances were leaching into the soil from himself," Lady Troucal suggested.

All three Ladies laughed uproariously.

"Enough of this!" Lord Yelreeg shouted, his reddish face growing redder.

Before the three women could respond, the door opened again and Ms. Kaleek, the Administrator, re-entered the room. For some reason she had remained outside while Munipalt was speaking. She now advanced toward the Council table, five green bracelets of a peculiar design piled in her thick arms. A similar bracelet was fitted tightly around her own wrist.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please put these bracelets on," she said in a calm voice. "The military has just ordered that all civic leaders should wear them."

"Do you have any idea why?" Lady Troucal asked, somewhat startled.

"I don't really know. It has something to do with the attack at the amusement park."

"Should we?" Lady Ewor asked doubtfully.

Lady Troucal hesitated for a moment. Then she smiled.

"You know what they say," she said cheerfully. "Mighty Meli Kaleek is the boss."

The three Ladies on the Unicepter City Council took the glowing green bracelets from their Administrator and slipped them on. With somewhat more reluctance, the two Lords did the same.

And in that moment, the Unicepter City Council were no longer themselves.

This, in the case of some of them, may have been a good thing.

**V**

The Doctor crept cautiously along the metal corridor, straining his ears for any sound other than the soft footfalls of Sharon and Vernor proceeding in the opposite direction. He was not sure splitting up had been a good idea – somehow, it never seemed to work out well – but Sharon had insisted, and there was no time to argue.

At least Sharon and Vernor were together, the Doctor thought. As for himself, after seven hundred years of time and space travel, he was beginning to feel rather confident in his survival skills.

There were a number of side corridors opening to the right, but the Doctor kept moving straight ahead. In front of him was a door, with a larger room beyond it. Making as little sound as possible, the Doctor slipped through the door.

He found himself in a control room filled with computer screens, panels of buttons and readouts, and puzzling scientific equipment of all kinds. The walls and floor were of brilliant white grillwork. Seated in a high-backed chair, with its back to the Doctor, was some sort of large creature, engrossed in the information scrolling down a monitor screen.

The Doctor took in all of this in a fraction of a second. The moment he stepped over the threshold, alarms began to blare. Lights began to flash. The creature in the chair spoke in a disconcertingly human voice, but its words echoed throughout the underground structure.

"Intruder has entered control room. Please assist," it said, quite calmly. Then it spun around in its chair.

It was a beautiful creature, somewhat like a tropical fish from Earth, but tall and massive. Its scales reflected the dim light in delicate hues. Its large but well-formed mouth smiled as though in pleasure, disclosing strangely human teeth.

The last time the Doctor had seen a member of this species it had been hideously deformed, an outlaw on the run from the tinclavic mines of Raaga. The bizarrely beautiful creature that stood before him now was very different, and yet the Doctor recognized it at once.

"A Terileptil," he said.

"Time Lord," the creature pronounced. "You are the one who disabled our security android. You must not be allowed to interfere further."

"You will not find me an easy person to dispose of," the Doctor said, withdrawing the sonic driver from his pocket. "If you attempt to harm me, I will not hesitate to use this."

"Mere bluff," the Terileptil replied. "That is the device you used against our android. It is merely a tool, not a weapon."

The Terileptil swiftly extracted a strangely shaped gun from within the quilted armour cloak that draped its body from the shoulders down.

"_This_ is a weapon," it said.

It activated the gun. A beam of light drilled into the sonic driver. With a gasp of pain, the Doctor let go of the device as it shattered in his hand.

"Not again," he sighed.

"I have neutralised the threat of your sonic device," the Terileptil said. "Now I shall neutralise you."

It aimed its gun at the Doctor's head…

END OF PART TWO

Terileptils created by Eric Saward.


	3. Breaking and Entering

**Dreamers of Beauty**

This story serves as a sequel to the _Doctor Who Magazine_ comic strip "Dreamers of Death" by Steve Moore and the TV story "The Visitation" by Eric Saward. "Fudge" Higgins is a character from the _Doctor Who Weekly_ comic strip "The Star Beast" by Pat Mills and John Wagner. I do not own the characters of the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor Allen, or the Terileptils. _Doctor Who_ is a trademark of the BBC.

**Part Three: Breaking and Entering**

**I**

Sharon and Vernor crept cautiously back towards the TARDIS. They had followed the corridor in the opposite direction from the Doctor to a dead end, where they discovered a beautiful mosaic apparently depicting a planetary system neither of them recognised.

"These aliens may be warlike," Sharon whispered, "but they must love beautiful things. Have you noticed how grand this whole place looks, with the metal arches and all?"

"Yeah, but I haven't noticed any of the aliens," Vernor whispered back. "I wonder where they are…"

As they crept forward, Sharon noticed that a door ahead of them on their right, which had been closed when they came the other way, was now ajar. She pointed to it and held a finger to her lips. Slowly, she and Vernor edged to the door and peered through the opening into the room beyond.

A massive creature, its back to them, was crouched over a large black sphere, examining it. The soft but penetrating sound of its breathing was all that broke the stillness of the underground lab.

Sharon touched Vernor on the shoulder and pointed ahead again towards the TARDIS. They began making their way forward again. Just then, the silence was shattered by a loud alarm. A calm voice echoed down the corridor from ahead of them.

"Intruder has entered control room. Please assist."

Sharon and Vernor broke into a run, racing past the TARDIS toward the danger ahead.

**II**

"I have neutralised the threat of your sonic device," the Terileptil said. "Now I shall neutralise you."

It aimed its gun at the Doctor's head. Suddenly, the Doctor heard running footsteps from behind him. In the instant that Vernor and Sharon joined him in the doorway, he shouted, "Run!" Grabbing their hands, he pulled them back in the direction of the TARDIS.

The Terileptil fired, but, suddenly distracted by three targets, succeeded in hitting none. The bolt of energy sizzled past Sharon's ear as the three of them ran into the corridor.

Ahead, beyond the TARDIS, the second Terileptil slowly emerged from its laboratory. Its broad mouth gaped open as though in surprise. It lumbered towards them, evidently too startled to draw its weapon. As they reached the TARDIS, they heard the voice of the Terileptil Leader as he emerged from the control room.

"They are entering their time craft! Stop them!"

The Leader fired again, but was too far away for a clear shot. The bolt ricocheted off the side of the TARDIS. As the second Terileptil fumbled for his weapon, the Doctor quickly pulled the TARDIS key from his pocket, opened the door and pulled Sharon and Vernor inside.

**III**

As the roundelled door swung closed behind them, Sharon and Vernor paused for breath. The Doctor, however, charged ahead to the TARDIS console, rubbing his hands together almost gleefully.

"Terileptils!" he said. "Now we've got to figure out what they're planning. Representatives of so warlike a race are hardly likely to have come to Unicepter simply to enjoy the amusement park."

Recovering his composure, Vernor advanced toward the Doctor.

"I might be able to help you there," he said. "As I told you, Doctor, I've retrained as a computer scientist since I lost my Dreaming job. I might be able to break into these aliens' computer systems, find out what they're up to."

"Excellent!" the Doctor beamed. "The console is yours, my good man. The entry password is Theta Sigma Micawber – and that is case- and alphabet-sensitive, by the way."

Sharon frowned as she joined her husband and the Doctor at the console.

"What did you say the aliens were called again, Doctor?" she asked. "Teripeltils?"

"Terileptils," the Doctor corrected her. "Natives of the planet Terileptus, known across half the galaxy for their seemingly contradictory traits: love of war and love of beauty."

"I don't remember them appearing in the _Galactic Crimefighters' Handbook_," Sharon objected. She could hear Vernor muttering as he oriented himself within the TARDIS systems.

"As I said, Sharon, they are known across _half_ the galaxy. Only now do they seem to be making inroads into Earth's half."

"Where have you encountered them before, then?" Sharon asked. "On an alien planet somewhere in your travels?"

"No, Sharon, as a matter of fact I met them on Earth," the Doctor said. "England, 1666. But those Terileptils were criminals on the run from the tinclavic mines of Raaga. They were not an officially sanctioned invasion force."

"Was that before or after we saw you last, Doctor? From your point of view, I mean," Sharon clarified.

"Oh, it was a couple of years later," the Doctor said. "But I had regenerated by that time."

"So you were the bland cricket player?" Sharon asked. "The version of you that never visited me?"

There was the sound of a heavy object rolling along the corridor outside, followed by a high-pitched whine. Sharon glanced quickly up at the scanner and saw the two Terileptils training a fearsome-looking piece of equipment on the crack between the front doors of the TARDIS.

"They're trying to cut their way in with a laser," the Doctor observed calmly. "It won't do them any good. As you know, Sharon, the TARDIS is absolutely impregnable."

**IV**

The two Terileptils waited expectantly as the portable laser cannon warmed up. A beam of blindingly brilliant violet light shot out of it toward the doors of the Time Lord's disguised craft. The doors seemed to absorb the energy without any ill effect.

"Switch to X-ray laser mode," the Terileptil Leader commanded. His subordinate carefully flicked one of the device's switches, which were seemingly too small for the creature's somewhat large and clumsy hands.

The whine from the cannon rose to an inaudible frequency as the beam of light it emitted became invisible. Nevertheless, the two Terileptils closed their eyes to protect their somewhat delicate eye membranes from the radiation. They listened patiently for the sound of the door to the blue box bursting open. They did not hear it.

**V**

"Doctor, they're wheeling out another device," Sharon warned as she watched the scanner.

"Ah, how interesting," the Doctor said, glancing idly at the screen. "A Sontaran bunker-buster -- I haven't seen one of those in aeons. How are you doing, Vernor?"

"There are firewalls in their systems like I've never seen," Vernor replied, frantically typing and clicking buttons. "And there's a lot of electronic interference from whatever it is they're doing out in the corridor, but your transmitters in this thing are overcoming it nicely. One thing I can tell you, though – from what I can see and understand of their programming, it's _beautiful_. It's more elegant than any programming language I've ever encountered, human or alien."

"Those are the Terileptils for you," the Doctor mused. "One of the most bellipotent races in the galaxy, and yet inveterate lovers of beauty in all its forms."

"Quite a paradox, isn't it, Doctor?" Sharon asked. "I wonder if someone could exploit it as a weakness…"

**VI**

The hum from the Sontaran bunker-buster rose higher and higher. The two Terileptils were forced to clamp their large hands over their vestigial ears. The sound became unbearably loud, then abruptly ceased.

"The device has overheated, Leader," the subordinate announced, checking the dials on the side of the blocky object. "It will not be usable for another ten cycles."

"Are you certain?" the Leader asked, his careful control over his rising anger wavering for a moment. "A Sontaran bunker-buster can crack the shell of a Sagittarian Brijnax!"

"Quite certain, Leader," the other Terileptil answered calmly. "We must seek another means of entrance into the time craft."

The Leader mastered his emotions. His options were running short, but he would pursue every one of them.

**VII**

"Doctor, they're rolling something else up!"

"A Dalek blaster cannon," the Doctor observed with interest. "I wonder how they got their rather large hands on one of those? Of course, they will keep trying to break in, Sharon. They must consider it unthinkable that a craft such as this sitting within a Terileptil module should remain impregnable indefinitely."

"A module?" Vernor asked, still furiously working at the console. "You mean this place is only part of a larger craft?"

"Yes, Vernor," the Doctor expounded, steepling his fingers as though in imitation of Vernor's favourite fictional hero, Sherlock Holmes. "It seems clear to me that this underground structure was formerly a module within the larger warship I detected in orbit, and that it was transmatted into the ground below the theme park, producing the mysterious metallic smell. But I had never heard before of the Terileptils possessing such advanced transmat technology. They must have only recently acquired it…"

"You know so much about these Terileptils, Doctor," Sharon said. "Have you met them more than once?"

"No, just the one time," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow in amusement at the Terileptil Leader's evident frustration as the Dalek device failed to make a dent in the TARDIS. "It was quite an adventure, though. Remind me to tell you sometime about the true cause of the Great Fire of London. Or not, as the case may be."

"How many adventures must you have had before coming back and seeing us?" Sharon wondered.

Both the Doctor and Vernor glanced sharply at her, seeing the slightly wistful expression on her face.

The Doctor took a step closer to her and spoke, more gently than Sharon had yet heard him in this strange new incarnation.

"I knew you wouldn't let me off the hook, Sharon," he said. "I know you too well for that. And I realise it must seem like I forgot about you. But every day of my existence is spent battling crises like this one."

"I know, Doctor," Sharon murmured. "I remember."

"There are many old friends I may seem to have lost track of," the Doctor continued. "But I have a highly retentive memory, Sharon. And I will look in on every one of them, sooner or later. After all, I have no lack of time in which to do so."

Sharon smiled.

"It's good to see you again, Doctor," she said.

The Doctor smiled back.

"If the two of you have made up now," Vernor called over to them, "I think I've found something."

The Doctor instantly dashed over to Vernor's side of the console and peered over his shoulder. Sharon joined them.

A document had appeared on the small screen Vernor was using on the console. It was written in an alien language with which Sharon was totally unfamiliar, and a glance at Vernor told her that the same was true for him.

Sharon returned her attention to the screen, wondering whether the spooky translation powers of the TARDIS would allow her to understand the document if she gazed at it a moment longer. Even as she attempted to read it, though, the Doctor was already telling them what it said.

"It's the Terileptils' plan for the invasion of Unicepter! Well done, Vernor!" The Doctor paused a moment, reading. "It appears that their intention is to disrupt Unicepter's power and communications systems, as well as the farming robots at work outside the city, with a powerful EMP bomb."

"EMP?" Sharon asked.

"Electro-Magnetic Pulse," the Doctor explained. "The principle was already known on Earth in your time, Sharon, or a little later. An electromagnetic pulse can disrupt the functioning of all electronic equipment in its vicinity. It appears that the Terileptils' EMP bomb is powerful enough to disrupt all the systems that keep Unicepter City functioning."

"Might this bomb look something like a large black sphere?" Vernor asked.

"Yes, very likely," the Doctor said, puzzled.

Sharon and Vernor looked at each other excitedly.

"That's what we saw the Terileptil examining in the lab on the other side of the corridor!" Sharon said.

"Indeed," the Doctor replied. "Very observant of you. The document goes on to state that, once the EMP bomb has been used, the Terileptils will broadcast a demand for Unicepter's unconditional surrender."

"Hang on a minute," Sharon interjected. "How can they do that? If communications are down, nobody will be able to get their message."

The Doctor scanned the screen again for a moment.

"The document doesn't say," he said. "The Terileptils are highly intelligent and resourceful creatures. I'm sure they'll find a way."

Sharon glanced up at the scanner. The two Terileptils had wheeled yet another fearsome-looking device up to the TARDIS doors and were activating it.

"Just as long as they don't find a way in here," she muttered.

"They plan to wait one hour," the Doctor continued, "until the city authorities have completed initial communications repairs; then, if Unicepter does not surrender, they will begin using –"

The Doctor broke off. Sharon glanced over at him and saw his light-complexioned face darken with horror. She looked at the screen again. The translation field had taken effect now, and she, too, could read the words at the bottom of the screen. She finished the Doctor's sentence for him.

"—biological warfare."

**VIII**

"Nothing is working!" the Terileptil Leader said, losing his temper again. "Are you operating the machines properly?"

"To the best of my knowledge and ability, yes," his subordinate replied, still with infuriating calmness.

The Terileptil Leader again controlled himself. He knew that his subordinate was not remaining calm out of a sense of superiority to him – as tempting as that might be to think – but out of his sense of their duty to accomplish their mission objectives.

At the moment, that meant preventing the Time Lord's escape.

"Bring the Martian gamma-ray laser," the Leader ordered. "It is our last option."

**IX**

"Doctor, here comes something else!"

"I see, Sharon. Ah, a Martian gamma-ray laser! Fascinating! Do you know, I cannot recall a previous occasion when a Martian gamma-ray laser has been used at full force on a Gallifreyan time-craft."

The Doctor gazed with mild interest at the screen. Meanwhile, Sharon and Vernor stared at him in horror.

"In that case, Doctor," Vernor said, keeping his voice as calm as possible, "don't you think we should be on our way?"

"What?" the Doctor said, roused out of his reverie. "Oh, yes, I suppose so. Still," he added, as he stepped around the control console and began flicking switches, "it would have been an interesting experiment."

"But where are we going?" Sharon objected. "Shouldn't we be trying to disable that EMP bomb?"

"A rather hazardous undertaking at the moment," the Doctor replied. "I have a more suitable plan."

"What is it, Doctor?" Vernor asked.

"Actually, your wife suggested it to me."

Sharon and Vernor looked at each other, puzzled.

"Now then, Vernor, my good man," said the Doctor, rubbing his palms together as he bent over to set the coordinates, "where are those old friends of yours, the slinths, kept nowadays?"

**X**

As the subordinate Terileptil brought his hand down to operate the gamma-ray laser, he was interrupted by a noise like a hundred of the breath regulators used in the dreaded tinclavic mines on Raaga.

A moment later, both Terileptils were dismayed to see the blue box in front of them grow transparent, and then disappear altogether. The Leader stepped into the space where it had been. The delicately coloured scales that covered him glittered in the dim light as his bulky body quivered with rage.

"He has escaped us – for the moment," he said. "Do not report this yet to the ship in orbit – do you understand? Not a word to our comrades of this failure!"

**XI**

The TARDIS materialised in a vacant lot on the outskirts of the city. As the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor emerged, Vernor looked around expectantly, and then frowned with disappointment.

"This isn't the place," he said. "We must be half a mile away!"

"Ah," the Doctor said, with some embarrassment. "As your wife tactfully hinted earlier, Vernor, I am not quite the most accurate TARDIS pilot in the cosmos. I have gotten somewhat better at these short hops over the past several decades, but they are still the trickiest feats of navigation to master."

He began to stride across the vacant lot.

"No matter," he called back to them. "It's a fine night for a stroll, don't you think?"

Vernor ran after him, catching up with some difficulty to the Doctor's long-legged stride. He tapped the Time Lord on the shoulder.

"Doctor, the Slinth House is _that_ way," he said, pointing behind them.

The look of confusion and hurt pride on the Doctor's face was so comical that Sharon giggled in spite of herself.

"To the south… I see," the Doctor murmured. "To the south, then! _Allons-y_! _Allons-y_, _allons-y_," he repeated, tasting the feel of the words. "Should I say that more often? No, I don't think it's quite me, somehow…"

As they proceeded toward the slinth enclosure, Vernor and Sharon lagged somewhat behind the Doctor, walking together along the dark streets.

"You're very glad to see him again, aren't you?" Vernor observed.

Once again Sharon looked up at her husband to discover that he was grinning fondly at her.

"After all," he continued, "it's hard to beat a man who can show you the wonders of the universe and get you back in time for tea."

"It _is_ hard to beat that," Sharon acknowledged thoughtfully. "But I can think of one man who does."

"Oh, really?" Vernor said with a twinkle in his eye. "And who might that be?"

"Captain James T. Kirk," she answered innocently.

Vernor was surprised for a moment. Then he roared with laughter.

"Are we having a good time back there?" the Doctor asked, not looking back or slowing his pace.

"Yes," Vernor called to him, taking Sharon's hand.

"Good," the Doctor replied.

**XII**

Inside the Slinth House a strange day had passed. Ever since Billy had arrived at 17 o'clock for the evening shift and been issued a bracelet by Trevor, all three slinth keepers had alternated between periods of lively conversation about nothing important and periods of silent watchfulness. It was as though they were being controlled by an intelligence that, at times, allowed them to adopt a carefully programmed semblance of normality.

Had there been a fourth person in the Slinth House to observe them, the three keepers would not have appeared normal now. They were carefully observing a screen which displayed the image from a security camera outside the building. It showed the approach of three people: a tall, blond, curly-haired man in colourful clothes, and a young man and woman, both dark-skinned and dark-haired.

If the man normally known as Trevor Allen recognised the second man on the screen as his brother Vernor, he gave no sign that he did so.

"Enemy agents," he said, as calmly as though still discussing a tentaball match. "They may be planning to use the slinths against the masters. They must not interfere with the plan."

In the dim light of the control room, the three slinth keepers' bracelets glowed green.

**XIII**

"I still say we should have gotten an order from a magistrate, Doctor," Vernor said as the three of them approached the doors of the Slinth House. "Trevor isn't going to be pleased with you just showing up in the middle of the night and demanding to use the slinths."

"I shall not _demand_ the favour from him, Vernor," the Doctor retorted. "I shall _ask_ your brother if I may _borrow_ two of the creatures in his care, with all the resources of charm and persuasiveness at my command."

The Doctor knocked imperiously on the doors. He waited a long moment, but there was no response.

"I don't understand," Vernor said with some concern. "Trevor is the Head Keeper, and he works from 8 to 25 on alternate days. And even if this is his day off, there should be someone in there."

"Hello!" the Doctor called out. "Three visitors to see your fascinating slinths!"

Still there was no response.

"Shouldn't they be able to see us on that security camera?" Sharon asked, pointing to a tube mounted above the door.

"Very likely, Sharon. Still, if the slinth keepers will not receive their guests, there is only one possible course of action in this emergency –"

The Doctor fished inside his coat, then looked embarrassed.

"Ah," he said. "I had temporarily forgotten that the Terileptil Leader… damaged my sonic driver."

"_Damaged_ it?" Sharon asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Doctor reluctantly brought his empty hand out from inside his coat.

"_Demolished_ would be a more appropriate participle, perhaps," the Doctor admitted. "I lack the time to build another at the moment, but I shall do so. Eventually."

"If the problem is to get inside the building," Sharon said, "I think I can help you there."

Drawing a safety pin out of her pocket, Sharon approached the door and inserted it into the lock. After a few twists, there was a click. She carefully pushed open the large, heavy doors of the Slinth House.

"Sharon!" the Doctor said, shocked. "I never knew you could do that! I'm mildly disappointed in you."

"My friend Fudge used to do it all the time in Blackcastle," Sharon explained. "Can I help it if I watched? I was trying to keep him out of trouble."

"I wonder how well you succeeded, Sharon," Vernor said with a grin, "going about it that way."

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor mused as they cautiously stepped inside. "If that was 'Fudge' Higgins, he was doing quite well for himself the last time I saw him. However, returning to the here and now, I'm surprised there wasn't an electronic lock on the door."

"Out here in the colonies we like to do some things the old-fashioned way, Doctor," Vernor explained. "More reliable. That's why most of us have only tri-holo sets, not full immersion consoles…"

"No wonder Dreaming was so popular," the Doctor observed. "It was as immersive as entertainment gets."

Vernor looked sad for a moment. Sharon glanced at the Doctor and noticed a barely perceptible flicker of emotion across his features, as though he was concerned he had reminded Vernor of the loss of his former vocation. Perhaps, Sharon thought, this new Doctor was less self-absorbed than he seemed.

The three of them proceeded down the dimly lit corridor past the pens of dormant slinths. At the end of the corridor was a door leading to what Sharon guessed, from the dim glow of various monitor screens, was a control room. There was still no sign that the building was occupied by anyone other than the drowsing slinths.

As they entered the control room, Sharon saw three human figures silhouetted against a bank of screens, some showing the slinth pens, another showing the exterior of the building. At the moment, the three men appeared to be observing a screen linked to a security camera in the corridor from which they had just entered. Upon seeing that their visitors had come into the room, the three turned slowly round.

"Trevor, thank goodness!" Vernor said, starting forward. "You're not going to believe this, but the planet has been invaded by aliens. We need to use the slinths to –"

He broke off. His brother Trevor, Andrew Calla and Billy Sul were all staring at him blankly. The Doctor grabbed Vernor by the shoulder.

"Look at their wrists!" he said urgently. "They're wearing Terileptil control bracelets. Your brother is not himself!"

The green bracelets on the wrists of the three keepers pulsed with light. Vernor stood, rooted to the spot, while his brother spoke with eerie calm, as though reciting a speech in a play.

"You wish to use the slinths against our masters," the man once known as Trevor Allen said. "That cannot be allowed."

Without taking his eyes off the three intruders, Trevor reached behind him and depressed a switch on a control panel.

"What did he just do?" Sharon asked frantically. "You've visited him here before. What does that switch do?"

"I'm not sure," Vernor said slowly, "but I think –"

A subdued growling could suddenly be heard from the corridor behind them. Vernor and Sharon whirled around, while the Doctor remained calmly staring at the three keepers.

Slowly, sleepily, the slinths were crawling out of their cages. Inching across the floor on their stubby, hidden legs, the furry brown creatures advanced towards the door of the control room, growling more and more menacingly.

"He's deactivated the psychic field that keeps them dormant!" Vernor said desperately. "Without the symbiotic relationship to their Dreamers that they once had, they'll revert to being hostile!"

"Just like the Slinth Crisis all over again!" Sharon shouted, turning back into the room. "Doctor, what can we do? Doctor?"

The Doctor remained calmly staring at the keepers, as though he could not hear her.

Sharon quickly turned back toward the corridor. The slinths had almost reached the threshold, moving faster as they became more wakeful. Their growls rose in pitch…

END OF PART THREE


	4. The Slinth Keepers

**Dreamers of Beauty**

This story serves as a sequel to the _Doctor Who Magazine_ comic strip "Dreamers of Death" by Steve Moore and the TV story "The Visitation" by Eric Saward. I do not own the characters of the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor Allen, or the Terileptils. _Doctor Who_ is a trademark of the BBC.

**Part Four: The Slinth Keepers**

**I**

Once upon a time, on a farming world called Unicepter IV, there was a slinth named Miki who had a Dreamer named Vernor. For three years Miki sat on Vernor's shoulder, sharing his dreams, his fears, his feelings.

Together they created the most fantastic dreamscapes, transporting people to worlds with seven moons, to cities containing infinite secrets, to palaces made of crystal. People said Vernor's dreams were unusually poetic. They gave Miki none of the credit.

Vernor loved Miki very much. And Miki loved him back.

Of course, Miki was a psychic vampire, consuming Vernor's mental energies and those of his clients little by little, waiting for the day when he and his fellow slinths could turn on the humans who had colonised Unicepter.

But even vampires have feelings.

**II**

Sharon quickly turned back toward the corridor. The slinths had almost reached the threshold, moving faster as they became more wakeful. Their growls rose in pitch.

She heard a sharp intake of breath from Vernor. Turning to him, she saw him gazing fixedly at one of the approaching slinths, as though he had seen a ghost.

"It can't be…" he muttered, his voice tight. "Miki? Miki, is that you?"

Sharon looked at the approaching slinths. One of them certainly resembled the creature who was sitting on her husband's shoulder the first time she met him. It was the same size, and its fur was the same shade of brown. Still, all the slinths looked so much alike to her that she had to bite her tongue to keep from asking Vernor how he could tell this was Miki.

"Miki, old man, you wouldn't hurt us, would you?" Vernor asked, still gazing at the slinth. "It's your old buddy Vernor, and his new friend Sharon. You remember you met Sharon once?"

Sharon suddenly felt an extraordinarily vivid sense memory: the feel of long, silky brown fur under her fingertips, as she stroked the creature on the shoulder of the handsome young man she had just met. For a moment the whole scene flashed before her eyes: Garret and Camilla Berrace… Their daughter, Lyan, and her fiancé, Karith, gazing fondly at each other… And the Doctor, with his shock of curly brown hair and his multicoloured scarf, smiling at her and Vernor, his inner thoughts unknowable.

Then suddenly she was back in the present, still with Vernor – now her husband – and the Doctor – now with curly blond hair and a multicoloured coat, gazing almost absently at the three slinth keepers, his thoughts still unknowable.

Vernor was staring even more intently at the slinth who might be Miki, as though trying to re-establish a telepathic link with him. The slinth growled faintly, almost quizzically.

"Come on, Miki," Vernor said softly. "You know this isn't right. Don't do this, Miki."

Suddenly the slinth turned, bared its fangs, and lashed out at the slinth to its right. The other slinth squealed with anger and fought back viciously, its hidden claws taking chunks out of Miki's fur and striking other nearby slinths as well. Within moments the doorway of the room was filled with a seething mass of fiercely fighting slinths.

A slight movement behind her made Sharon whirl around to see the three keepers gazing slack-jawed at the fight. Trevor Allen had stepped forward slightly towards the doorway, but then stopped again. It was as though whoever was controlling the three men had given them no instructions for this eventuality, leaving them at a loss.

Seemingly unnoticed by the keepers, the Doctor was casually moving to his left, beyond their field of view. As the fight among the slinths raged on, the Doctor quickly and quietly stepped behind Trevor. Gazing with rapt attention at the battle, Vernor's controlled brother did not notice as the Doctor softly slipped the glowing green bracelet off his wrist.

Instantly Trevor took a step backwards, almost colliding with the Doctor.

"Why they even hired us instead of setting up the place to run automatically, I'll never know," Trevor said. "But what's that in the corner – a child?"

He rubbed his eyes and gazed around in confusion. Meanwhile, the Doctor was diving towards Andrew Calla.

"Quickly, Trevor!" he cried. "Help me get these bracelets off your two colleagues. The three of you were being controlled –"

The Doctor broke off as he noticed that Andrew and Billy's bracelets were no longer glowing. They also were now rubbing their eyes and staring around themselves in confusion.

"But what is it?" Andrew asked. "Does it have something to do with the psychic field?"

"The psychic field!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Thank you for reminding me, young man."

In an instant the Doctor was at the control panel and had slammed the switch Trevor had pressed back into its normal position.

The slinths' growls grew quieter. Creatures who had been fighting each other ferociously a moment before gazed at each other sleepily, as though they had forgotten what they were fighting about. In another few moments the slinths were asleep on the floor, still blocking the doorway. Some were again resting on their stomachs with their stubby legs hidden, while others lolled on their backs.

Vernor fell to his knees beside Miki. There were gaping wounds in his old friend's fur. Even as the Doctor joined him, however, the wounds appeared to be healing.

"It seems," the Doctor observed, "that slinths heal quickly. Rather like Alzarians," he added, frowning slightly.

"Miki was always like that," Vernor said. "But it's lucky for him that the psychic field covers the entire building for safety, not just the slinth pens, so the battle stopped as soon as you switched it back on."

"I realise this may sound like a clichéd question," Andrew Calla asked, "but would someone please tell us what is going on?"

"I'm almost as surprised by it as you are," the Doctor said. "It appears that two of you were controlled through the third – through Trevor Allen, your supervisor. I've never known Terileptil control bracelets to work that way before…"

"Terileptils?" Billy Sul asked, confused. "What are they?"

"Terileptils!" Trevor Allen suddenly exclaimed, his whole body going rigid. "The masters! Don't you remember? I can still see them. Creatures like huge, beautiful tropical fish…" He shook himself, coming out of his brief trance. "But how did I know that? I've never seen such creatures."

"They were controlling your mind, Trevor," the Doctor explained. "They placed their own image into your thoughts as a symbol of power. Your two colleagues may not remember them because they were controlled through you, but you certainly do – even if you don't know how."

"But why did they pick out Trevor and the others to control?" Sharon asked.

"Presumably to ensure that the slinths could not be used against them," the Doctor speculated. "I wonder…"

"What is it, Doctor?" Vernor asked.

"Oh, I wonder many things, Vernor," the Doctor said. "I wonder why sausage tastes better in England than anywhere else in the Local Group. I wonder why the bowls of curry at tentaball matches on Zubenelgenubi IV cost more than the tickets to the game. Right now I'm wondering how many other inhabitants of Unicepter are being controlled."

"You mean they could have taken over anyone?" Sharon asked, gripped by a sudden feeling of paranoia.

"Anyone wearing one of these bracelets," the Doctor said. "And each group of controlled subjects must be manipulated through a single authority figure, like Trevor here. Perhaps an employer, a supervisor, an administrator…"

**III**

The Administrator of the Unicepter City Council, Ms. Meli Kaleek, glared across her desk at Mr. Munipalt.

"May I ask why you have come to visit us in the middle of the night, Mr. Munipalt?" she asked, glowering at the representative of the Parks Department.

Munipalt had to restrain himself from asking in return why Ms. Kaleek and the Council members were still in the Hall of Government. When he had called Ms. Kaleek on her portable visiphone he had expected to rouse her from sleep, only to see that she was in her office. Upon arriving at the Hall of Government, he had been even more surprised to find the five Councillors still there, wandering aimlessly around the building and conversing with each other about nothing of significance.

"I received a call from a night security guard at the Moonrise Amusement Park," Munipalt explained. "A massive sinkhole has been forming over the last few hours near the pool where the android appeared yesterday. The ground has been shaking throughout the park, as though gigantic machinery is moving underground."

"More of your seismic events?" Ms. Kaleek asked, a bored look on her face.

Munipalt wondered for a moment how Ms. Kaleek knew about what he had told the Council members earlier, since she was not in the room during his testimony before them. One of the Councillors must have told her, he assumed.

"Yes, Ms. Kaleek," he said forcefully. "It proves what I've been saying all along. There's something huge and dangerous buried under the theme park, probably put there by a hostile alien power, and for sure the place of origin of that android that zapped people yesterday afternoon. Now, I need the Council's approval to evacuate the security guards, call in the planetary defence forces, and maybe evacuate the part of the city around the park –"

As Munipalt spoke he saw the bored look on Ms. Kaleek's face replaced by a peculiarly intent expression. She cocked her head, almost as though listening to another voice from far away. Suddenly she interrupted Munipalt in the middle of a sentence, as though she had not heard him.

"I need you to put this on," she said, fishing in her desk drawer and bringing out a green bracelet, similar to the one she herself wore. "The military have ordered that the heads of all civic departments wear them."

"I'm not the head of the Parks Department," Munipalt objected. "That's Mr. Laeg, although he's getting up there in years –"

"I need you to put this on, Mr. Munipalt," Ms. Kaleek repeated, holding the bracelet out to him.

Munipalt looked incredulously at the bracelet in Ms. Kaleek's hand. It glowed green within, as though powered by the silver cylinder set into it. An irrational feeling of dread prickled along his spine.

"Are you sure?" Munipalt asked. "Have you asked Lord Yelreeg? He has friends in the military, you know."

"Please put this bracelet on, Mr. Munipalt," Ms. Kaleek said. She rose from her chair and stretched out her hand to grab his left wrist.

"Thanks for your time," Munipalt said, and heaved his thick frame out the door of her office faster than he would have thought possible, slamming it behind him.

As he raced down the marble staircase of the Hall of Government, breathing hard, Munipalt heard the door of the office open behind him. The sound of Ms. Kaleek's footsteps followed him, slow, implacable, like something out of a nightmare.

His mind flooded with relief as he saw Lord Yelreeg – one of the two Councillors friendliest to him – standing at the bottom of the stairs, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Your Lordship!" Munipalt called out. "I think the Administrator needs to get some rest. She's behaving strangely –"

The blood turned to ice in his veins as he saw Lord Yelreeg bring his hands forward. A bracelet identical to the one Ms. Kaleek had offered him was in Yelreeg's right hand. Another encircled Yelreeg's wrist.

"Ah, Munipalt!" Yelreeg said cheerfully, holding out the bracelet to him. "Have you heard the latest? The military have ordered that all heads of civic departments –"

"I'm not the head of the Parks Department, thank God!" Munipalt shouted, shoving Lord Yelreeg aside and racing toward the front door of the building.

The Unicepter Hall of Government had three doors at the front entrance, but only the middle one was kept unlocked after hours. Munipalt's heart sank as he saw Lady Noham standing just inside the middle door, completely blocking it.

"Mr. Munipalt!" she exclaimed sweetly, brushing back her unwashed hair with her braceleted hand while holding yet another bracelet out to him with the other. "Why be so unreasonable? Is there nothing the City Council can do to persuade you?"

Munipalt stood still, hope dying within him. He could hear multiple sets of footsteps behind him. Even without turning, he knew what he would see if he did: the other four Councillors and their Administrator, all advancing inexorably towards him with glowing green bracelets in their outstretched hands.

Only one crazy idea leapt into his mind. None but the bold, he thought.

"Yeah, there is, Your Ladyship," he said. "There is something you can do."

"And what might that be?" Lady Noham asked, smiling.

"Kiss me."

Lady Noham took a step backwards towards the door. Munipalt heard the others' footsteps stop, as though they, too, were puzzled by his request.

"What did you say?" Lady Noham asked blankly.

"Kiss me, Your Ladyship," Munipalt repeated.

There was no reply. Lady Noham stood rooted to the spot, staring emptily at Munipalt as though she had never heard of kissing before. There was no sound of movement from the other Council members or Ms. Kaleek, who were apparently equally puzzled.

Taking Lady Noham's silence for acquiescence, Munipalt stepped forward and kissed her hard on the lips. After a long moment, her eyes closed and she sighed deeply. Not wasting any more time, Munipalt shoved her aside, pushed open the door and felt the night air hit his face.

It was a measure of Mr. Munipalt's chivalry that he felt a slight twinge of guilt as he heard Lady Noham tumble to her knees behind him. An instant later, however, the door had closed and Munipalt was racing across the forecourt of the building towards his parked hovercar.

"Her kisses are like poison, anyway," he muttered to himself as he punched a course for the Moonrise Amusement Park into the car's nav unit.

**IV**

The Terileptil Leader grunted with frustration as he glared at the screen showing events from the point of view of the controlled Administrator.

"First the Time Lord releases the slinth keepers from our control," he said to his subordinate. "Now the human who knows of our presence beneath the amusement park has escaped without receiving a control bracelet. Our mind-control technology cannot cope with the somatic manifestations of human reproductive desire!"

"He does not _know_ of our presence, Leader," his subordinate corrected him. "He only suspects the existence of alien technology in this location."

"He may still pose a grave danger to us," the Leader proclaimed. "Transmat one of the small androids into his vehicle to place a bracelet on his wrist."

"It is difficult to transmat the androids into moving objects, Leader," the other Terileptil objected. "In any case, we must maintain power reserves for the launch of the electromagnetic pulse device and the announcement of our terms."

"Yes, you are correct," the Leader said reluctantly, shifting his weight in his control chair. "Once the device has been detonated, our plan will move rapidly to its culmination."

**V**

At the Moonrise Amusement Park, the four night security guards – two young men and two young women – stood nervously in the open space where the android had appeared the previous day. The mysterious pool around the floodlight had disappeared, as had the floodlight itself. Instead, a gigantic sinkhole occupied much of the area. The ground under the guards' feet throbbed with regular vibrations, as though in time with the rhythm of pounding machinery under the park.

"What should we do?" one of the women asked nervously.

"Don't worry about it, Sally," a male guard replied. "I called Mr. Munipalt. He'll handle it with the city government, or show up here himself. Mr. Munipalt does everything for Unicepter City."

"Do you think we should evacuate, Tommy?" the other young man asked.

"Don't be stupid, Mike," Tommy said. "Our work schedules clearly state we're supposed to patrol the park all night. It's more than our jobs are worth if we leave."

"Maybe we should patrol some other part of the park, then?" Sally asked.

No one replied. All four guards continued staring silently into the blackness of the sinkhole, as though mesmerised by it. Suddenly there was a shout from Mike.

"What's that?"

A black sphere was shooting up into the air from the centre of the sinkhole. When it had nearly reached the height of the top of the roller-coaster, it glowed dazzlingly bright for a moment. The guards, staring up into the air after it, threw their hands in front of their faces.

And when they looked again, everything had gone black, except the stars.

**VI**

At the Slinth House, the Doctor had removed the bracelets from Billy and Andrew's wrists and had stowed them safely in his own pocket, along with Trevor's bracelet. The Doctor, Sharon and Vernor had also explained the situation more fully to the three keepers.

"Now, it is of the utmost importance that you endeavour to remember what information the Terileptils accessed from your minds," the Doctor was saying to Trevor and his colleagues. "Just as they placed their own image in Trevor's mind, they will have learned about what you have been doing, and transmitting the instructions that you followed while you were controlled."

Trevor closed his eyes, concentrating.

"I told them…" he muttered. "I told them we were slinth keepers, that we guarded the slinths for their own protection and that of others."

"I think… I think I told them about breaking up with my girlfriend," Andrew said. "How embarrassing."

"Yes, yes, I know, but the slinths?" the Doctor asked urgently. "Do they know about their dream-inducing capabilities?"

"I don't remember telling them that…" Trevor murmured.

"I try not to think about it," Billy said, his eyes also closed. "It's too sad."

"Andrew?" the Doctor prompted. The other two keepers opened their eyes and stared at him.

"No," Andrew replied. "I didn't tell them. At least – I don't think so."

Billy groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Two-and-a-half out of three isn't bad," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow. "I think we can proceed on the assumption, then, that the Terileptils know only that the slinths are potentially fearsome creatures who could be turned against them unless their keepers are controlled. They don't know where the true power and danger of the slinths comes from."

"But why does that matter, Doctor?" Trevor asked.

Suddenly, all the lights in the building went out.

**VII**

Gazing impatiently ahead through the windscreen of his hovercar, Mr. Munipalt could see the large roller-coaster at the Moonrise Amusement Park, now less than a minute away. And then, suddenly, he could not see it. The floodlights illuminating it went out. So did every other light in the city. His softly glowing dashboard blinked once, and then faded into blackness.

Munipalt struggled with the controls as his engine cut out. He used the last dying reserves of the car's power to swerve to the side of the road and make a landing that could almost, but not quite, be described as soft. His front bumper crumpled against a signpost, and Munipalt felt a wrenching pain in his lower back.

The doors would not open, but fortunately the hovercar had an open top. With some difficulty Munipalt hauled himself over the passenger-side door and dropped achily to the pavement. Operating now on pure adrenaline, he charged ahead toward the amusement park entrance.

**VIII**

"What's happened, Doctor?" Sharon asked, straining to see through the inky darkness that now filled the Slinth House. Every source of illumination had failed: not only the lights, but the computer screens, monitors and displays in the control room where they stood.

"The Terileptils have detonated their EMP bomb," the Doctor's voice pronounced solemnly. "Every piece of electrical or electronic equipment above ground in Unicepter City has ceased to function. Unless, of course, you count the interior of my TARDIS as being in Unicepter City, but, since it occupies its own separate space-time continuum and is quite effectually shielded from the exterior universe, I would not consider that it qualifies."

"Never mind all that, Doctor," Vernor said urgently. "The question is, what do we do?"

"At the moment, it would seem that all we can do is await the Terileptils' announcement of their terms," the Doctor said. "I am still not certain how the Terileptils intend to make their announcement, having disabled the city's communications, but there can be no doubt that they will somehow do so presently."

"What are their terms?" Andrew asked nervously.

"You're not going to like them," Sharon said.

As they lapsed into silence, a faint growling and stirring could be heard in the dark.

"Please tell me that noise isn't what I think it is," Billy said.

"Afraid I can't, Billy," Trevor replied. "The psychic field went down again along with the rest of the systems. Any minute now, our furry friends will be awake and angry."

**IX**

Mr. Munipalt charged through the employee entrance of the Moonrise Amusement Park as though crossing the finish line of the New Torino Marathon. Orienting himself by the black silhouette of the roller-coaster against the stars, he headed for the area of the sinkhole.

As he ran, the ground shook under his feet. Tree branches cracked against each other as though caught in a high wind, and frightening noises echoed through the park as fixtures fell off buildings and walls were undermined. "Minor seismic events – kiss my behind, Your Ladyships," he thought rather than muttered, having no breath to spare for speech.

Munipalt entered the open area where the android had appeared. The sinkhole now covered nearly the entire area. It was growing larger by the second, shelves of soft earth slipping downwards into its darkness.

By the summer starlight, Munipalt faintly perceived the four guards standing around the sinkhole, gaping at it. They seemed paralysed with awe at the terrifying sight.

"What are you standing there for?" Munipalt yelled, skidding to a halt and grabbing the nearest guard by the shoulder. "Evacuate the park – now!"

"Is that you, Mr. Munipalt?" the young man asked. "We don't have authorisation to leave our posts. Our work schedule requires –"

"_I'm_ authorising it, you idiot," Munipalt shouted, pulling the guard with him back towards the entrance. "All of you – out!"

The other three guards broke into a run as the sinkhole grew larger and larger. From behind him, Munipalt heard a choked cry that dwindled into silence.

"Mike lost his footing!" one of the young women shouted. "He fell in!"

"There's nothing we can do for him now!" Munipalt yelled. "Get out!"

As Munipalt emerged from the employee entrance, he turned to see Sally and the other young woman, Lu, following him. He rounded savagely upon Tommy, the young man he had dragged with him out of the park.

"You lot would let robbers into an art museum if they claimed to be police!" he snarled. But he wept as he said it.

"I'm sorry," Tommy muttered. "I don't know what we were thinking –"

"Look!" Lu shouted, pointing back toward the park.

Munipalt spun round to see a vast shape rising into the night sky from the location of the sinkhole. It seemed at first to be a tower; then a huge dish unfurled from it, overtopping the dimly visible roller-coaster.

Suddenly, a million lights sprang into life on the giant object, dazzlingly bright in the darkened city. The dish and its tower seemed to be covered with jewels in every colour of the visible spectrum. A vague memory flitted through Munipalt's mind of a class he had taken during his one year of university, a course on "Galactic Popular Music and Visual Design Aesthetics". A memory of a single word, describing an old Earth cultural phenomenon: "Glam-rock".

There was a throbbing hum from the dish; a sound that briefly made Munipalt feel like his heartbeat was changing. Then a calm, strangely human-sounding voice spoke from the dish. It did not seem terribly loud, and yet Munipalt knew it must be audible throughout Unicepter City.

"Citizens of Unicepter," the voice said. "We are the Terileptils. The tale of our skill for war has preceded us throughout the galaxy."

Munipalt heard a sharp intake of breath from Tommy, still standing next to him, but he remained focused on what the voice would say next.

"A heavily armed Terileptil warship is in orbit around your planet," the voice continued. "A module occupied by Terileptil personnel and armed with weapons of many kinds is located underneath your city. This module is impregnable and cannot be attacked by you in any way."

**X**

"We have now detonated an electromagnetic pulse device which has disrupted all power and communications systems in your city. Even the farming robots outside your city limits have ceased to function. This is merely a hint of our power."

"More clichés," Andrew Calla muttered as the all-pervading sound of the announcement reached the six people in the control room of the Slinth House, almost drowning out the rising growls of the slinths.

The Doctor had struck a match he had found in one of his capacious pockets. It seemed to be burning unusually long and unusually bright, throwing heavy bands of shadow across his grim face.

**XI**

"We demand the unconditional surrender of Unicepter, which shall immediately be absorbed into the Terileptil Empire. All governmental authority in the human Unicepter colony shall be dissolved, and all military and paramilitary units shall stand down without resistance."

In the lobby of the Hall of Government, the five City Councillors and their Administrator stood motionless, as though forgotten by the intelligence controlling them since their failure to prevent Munipalt's escape. The bracelets around their wrists, however, seemed to glow more brightly than ever in the darkness as they silently listened to their master's voice.

At the reference to military and paramilitary forces, both Lord Yelreeg and Lady Noham sighed softly, as though buried remnants of their true personalities were quietly protesting the words of the announcement.

**XII**

"We will give you one hour to accept our demands," the Terileptil Leader said into a grille on the wall of his control room. "That should be long enough for you to complete initial communications repairs. If our terms are not accepted at that time, we will release a variety of biological agents onto the surface of Unicepter."

The Leader paused for a moment for effect, and then continued.

"These agents are deadly to all known forms of organic life in this galaxy. All life on the surface of Unicepter will be eradicated. The Terileptil Empire will gain another dead world that can be colonised in one thousand years, when the plague agents die out.

"Once again, you have one hour to choose. Life under Terileptil rule is far more pleasant than the lingering and horrible deaths you will experience if you do not surrender. The decision is yours."

The Leader snapped off the transmitter grille and turned to his subordinate with a curiously gently smile of satisfaction.

"Now," he said, "we wait."

**XIII**

The slinths had grown angry again. Still blocking the door to the corridor, the mass of brown furry creatures was growling more and more loudly. To Sharon's surprise, and somewhat to her dismay, Vernor had picked up Miki as he awakened and placed him on his shoulder, where he had rested for so many years. Glancing at the Doctor, Sharon saw that he also was taken aback by this development. However, although Miki was growling softly, he had as yet shown no signs of open hostility to Vernor.

Perhaps there truly was some residual loyalty there, Sharon thought. But as Miki yawned, seemingly still drowsy, Sharon glimpsed his teeth only inches from her husband's neck and shuddered inwardly.

"Trevor," the Doctor asked, "what are your emergency procedures in the event that the psychic field malfunctions? What have you been instructed to do to control the slinths?"

Trevor shook himself, still dazed by the terrifying announcement they had all just heard from the Terileptil Leader.

"Right," he said. "Emergency projectile weapons. There are some in the storeroom, which we can't get to now, but there are some more in the lockers below the monitor screens."

"Of course!" the Doctor exclaimed. "That's how Vernor attacked them during the Slinth Crisis. Energy weapons wouldn't work on them, since they would merely absorb the power and grow stronger."

As Trevor quickly unlocked the foot-level cabinets below the monitors, Miki's soft growling rose slightly in pitch.

"I know, old man!" Vernor said. "I had no choice. Even at the time, I was afraid I might hurt you with that thing, but I didn't know what else to do. I even told Sharon that – don't you remember, Sharon?"

"Yes. I do remember," Sharon said softly.

"It appears that your psychic link with your mammalian colleague is fully re-established, Vernor," the Doctor observed. "That may be useful in what lies before us, or it may be dangerous. I must admit I had anticipated that you and Sharon would find two slinths other than Riki to take with us."

"His name is Miki, Doctor," Vernor corrected him.

"Ah, yes. Miki. Of course."

Sharon shook her head in bewilderment.

"I still can't believe Vernor and I each have to take one of those things back to the TARDIS with us," she said.

"It is necessary to the plan, Sharon," the Doctor replied. "That is, of course, unless you want Unicepter to become the galaxy's largest Petri dish."

Behind the Doctor, Billy Sul groaned. Sharon turned to see whether he was offended by the Doctor's somewhat inappropriate remark, only to find him awkwardly clutching a projectile rifle of an old Earth design which Trevor had handed to him out of the locker. Trevor and Andrew were also armed.

"Don't worry," Trevor said, smiling slightly. "They're kept loaded."

"I've only ever fired one of these things once," Billy said. "I don't know how much use I'll be holding the slinths off."

"Just like closing time at the Winchester," Andrew muttered.

Everyone turned to him, puzzled.

"What was that?" Trevor asked.

"Oh, nothing," Andrew answered, embarrassed. "Just an obscure Earth movie reference."

"Is that related to _Star Trek_?" Sharon asked.

"Indirectly. You see –"

"Never mind that now," the Doctor said hurriedly. "Is there another way out of this room?"

"There's an emergency exit at the back," Trevor said. "It leads into a corridor to the rear door of the building. There are no slinth pens back there, so you should be able to make it."

"And will you and your colleagues be able to hold off the slinths without us?" the Doctor asked.

"Not a problem," Andrew said quickly. Trevor and Billy stared at him for a moment, but managed to stifle the inappropriate giggles that nearly came out.

"Very good," the Doctor said. He removed another match from his coat pocket and handed it to Trevor, who had armed himself with an old-fashioned revolver.

"This is a so-called 'everlasting' match, Trevor," he explained. "The name may be something of an exaggeration, but it should provide illumination as long as you need it."

He turned to Vernor.

"I'm still not certain that it's wise for you to take Miki rather than some other slinth. Your psychic link to him may prove to be a double-edged blessing."

"I'm not going to be separated from him again – at least, not yet," Vernor said firmly. "I've missed him, and I know he's missed me."

"_Que será, será_, then," the Doctor said resignedly. "Sharon, you may as well pick out a slinth that looks moderately friendly."

Sharon shuddered. Although the slinths, confused by the switching on and off of the psychic field, had not yet returned to their former pitch of ferocity, all of them except Miki were growling and baring their fangs.

"You can't find one, Sharon? I suppose I shall have to select one for you, then."

The Doctor sighed theatrically. He fixed his eyes on a reddish-brown slinth that had slowly advanced to within the threshold. He stared at it for a moment, and then closed his eyes, concentrating.

The slinth's growls became less insistent. In a few moments it was completely calm, and yet still awake, gazing up curiously at Sharon.

Surprised, Sharon carefully lifted the creature and draped it around her shoulders. Although it was as heavy as a heavy rucksack, the feel of its soft fur on her neck and its warm breath on her cheek was surprisingly comforting. Sharon could understand why Vernor had loved carrying Miki so much.

"Blimey, it's as gentle as a lamb now!" she said.

"I'm using my own, not especially powerful, telepathic abilities to keep your new friend in a semi-somnolent state," the Doctor explained. "I am doing the same for Miki, as it happens. Despite his affection for you, Vernor, he would still bite your neck if he were in contact with the feelings of aggression and resentment stored up in the other slinths."

"Thank you, Doctor," Vernor said, a slightly disbelieving note in his voice.

As the three of them moved toward the emergency exit, Trevor, Andrew and Billy took their stand with their guns near the door to the corridor.

"See you tomorrow, Trev," Vernor called back to his brother.

"Oh, you'll see him today, Vernor," the Doctor said impatiently. "It's long past midnight."

The Doctor pushed open the emergency door and strode out of the room. Vernor only had time for another quick glance back at Trevor before he and Sharon followed the Time Lord out.

**XIV**

The three surviving guards were still standing in the darkness outside the amusement park, horror-struck by the Terileptils' announcement.

"The military won't really stand down, will they?" Lu asked.

"They may as well," Tommy said bitterly. "None of their equipment will work any more than the lights do."

Sally was frantically tapping away at her portable visiphone.

"This thing is on batteries, and it doesn't work!" she exclaimed in frustration. "How are we supposed to call anyone for help?"

"What do we do, Mr. Munipalt?" Lu asked.

A long moment passed before Munipalt spoke.

"There's only one thing I can think of to do," he said. "And it's the last thing I want to do, but we have no choice. We have to go see the City Council."

**XV**

The Doctor, Sharon and Vernor had groped their way down a darkened corridor to the rear doors of the Slinth House, only to find that they were locked.

"Trevor must have the key," Vernor said.

"Should we go back and get it?" Sharon asked. "I'm not sure the emergency exit from the control room opens from this side."

"In any case, your brother-in-law and his associates have quite a lot to deal with at the moment," the Doctor said. "Sharon, would you do the honours?"

Somewhat embarrassed, Sharon pulled the safety pin from her pocket again and tried the lock. She struggled with it for several moments, but without success.

"I know I should be able to do it, but I can't," Sharon said, frustrated. "We must have only about forty-five minutes left!"

"Allow me, Sharon," the Doctor said. Taking the safety pin from her, he jiggled it in the lock. Two seconds later the door creaked open.

"How did you do that?" Sharon demanded. "And you said you were mildly disappointed in _me_!"

"I should have introduced you to Harry Houdini during our travels," the Doctor said, smiling. "You could have learned advanced escapology skills and a gustatory appreciation for bagels with lox."

"Back to the TARDIS?" Vernor asked as they emerged from darkness into slightly less deep darkness.

"As rapidly as possible," the Doctor agreed. "And remember, a plethora of occurrences can eventuate in three-quarters of an hour."

**XVI**

The Terileptil Leader and his subordinate had returned to the uppermost chamber of their underground module. This was the place from which they had launched the EMP bomb into the sky over the theme park.

The launch unit now contained a different kind of weapon: a sealed capsule about the size of a Terileptil's head. Inside, the Leader knew, were enough genetically engineered bacteria, viruses and hyper-prions to eliminate all life on Unicepter.

"It is, of course, unlikely that we shall have to use this weapon," the subordinate Terileptil remarked. "Given that we control the minds of the governing body of this city, surrender is assured."

"I am not so certain," the Leader said. "And I am displeased by your lack of warrior spirit. That lack is not shared by the Time Lord, or by the human, Munipalt. If either of them succeeds in interfering with this planet's surrender or our victory, then for a thousand years Unicepter will be nothing but a mote of contagion spinning through the universe!"

The chronometer next to the launch tube displayed the countdown to the release of the pathogens. Thirty-nine minutes remained…

END OF PART FOUR


	5. Agent Released

**Dreamers of Beauty**

This story serves as a sequel to the _Doctor Who Magazine_ comic strip "Dreamers of Death" by Steve Moore and the TV story "The Visitation" by Eric Saward. I do not own the characters of the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor Allen, or the Terileptils. _Doctor Who_ is a trademark of the BBC.

**Part Five: Agent Released**

**I**

"If either the Time Lord or the human, Munipalt, succeeds in interfering with this planet's surrender or our victory, then for a thousand years Unicepter will be nothing but a mote of contagion spinning through the universe!"

The chronometer next to the launch tube displayed the countdown to the release of the pathogens. Thirty-nine minutes remained.

**II**

As the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor entered the TARDIS, the Doctor dashed over to the control console and quickly yet carefully adjusted dials on a panel Sharon had seldom seen him use. During their journey back from the Slinth House, Sharon had noticed that the Doctor's forehead was deeply creased with the effort of keeping the two slinths sedated with his own mind. Now his brow smoothed out, and he wiped away a thin sheen of sweat from it. The muffled growls of Miki and the other slinth changed key slightly, but remained subdued.

"There!" the Doctor exclaimed, satisfied. "I have calibrated the TARDIS' own telepathic field to do the work my brain was doing and keep the slinths in line. Now, another short hop back to the Terileptils' lab, and we should at last reach the denouement of this dilemma."

**III**

The Doctor quietly stepped out of the TARDIS into the main corridor of the Terileptils' underground lab, where his ship had rematerialised in its former location. As he had seen on the scanner, there was no sign of the Terileptils. Perhaps they had expected his return and were awaiting their final confrontation in another part of the module.

He turned to head toward the control room, but paused as he glimpsed something in the opposite direction – something which did not please him at all. It was lying half-in and half-out of the door of a room partway down the corridor – probably the same room where Sharon and Vernor had seen the EMP bomb.

The Doctor stepped over to it and gazed down at it for a moment, a grim frown on his normally cherubic face. Then he stepped over it and quickly but efficiently searched the rest of the room. All that he found of interest were some spare canisters of soliton gas – a necessity for the Terileptil physiology – and a number of small androids, like beautiful children, in a series of storage cabinets equipped with transmat units. The Doctor looked thoughtful as he rubbed the gleaming gemstones on one of the androids, as though for luck.

Before the Doctor left the room, he dragged the dead park guard inside, and then gently closed the door.

**IV**

The Terileptil Leader and his subordinate were seated, looking calmly at the Doctor as he entered the control room, as though they had been awaiting his arrival at a garden party. The Doctor glanced at a display on the control panel behind them. Thirty minutes and counting.

"You seem remarkably calm for warriors who are about to eradicate all life on Unicepter," the Doctor said.

"As my subordinate has pointed out to me, it may not come to that," the Leader replied. "We have complete mental control of the ruling council of Unicepter City. Once they have completed preliminary repairs, they will transmit their surrender message."

"And if they can't complete repairs in time? Or if something else unforeseen occurs?" the Doctor asked.

"Then our threat will be carried out. We cannot afford to show weakness in war."

"I am surprised, Doctor, that you seem unconcerned that we might kill you," the subordinate Terileptil observed, his thick fingers brushing the gun hidden inside his quilted armour cloak.

"Oh, I wouldn't be shocked by it if I were you," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow. "The people I meet in my line of work often have good reasons for not killing me."

The Terileptil Leader permitted himself a throaty chuckle.

"My subordinate has somewhat weakened our tactical advantage by revealing that we know your identity, Doctor," the Leader said. "After your departure a few hours ago, we took the precaution of matching your facial features against a database of known or suspected time-travellers. It is indeed an honour to have aboard our module so famous a warrior, and one whom the Time Lords of Gallifrey may surrender much to redeem."

"And if I attempt to return to my TARDIS?"

"Then you will be shot, of course," the Leader answered calmly. "But it is our hope that you will remain to learn with us the outcome of our invasion of Unicepter. Once the planet has surrendered, or the biological agent has been released, this module shall be transmatted back aboard the warship in orbit. You and your time craft shall be taken into custody by the authority of the Terileptil Empire."

"Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad," the Doctor said thoughtfully. "I'm sure the Time Lords would procrastinate about ransoming me while they decided what to do. That would give me time to examine the art treasures of Terileptus."

"An admirable attitude!" the Leader exclaimed. "I take it, then, that you are a connoisseur of beauty, as we are, Doctor?"

"I may say that I am," the Doctor replied. "But it would be immodest to claim that I approach the level of aesthetic sensitivity possessed by the Terileptil race."

"You flatter us, Doctor," the subordinate Terileptil said.

"Not at all. As I was saying only yesterday afternoon, a respect for truth demands that one evaluate one's own qualities accurately. A Terileptil can perceive subtleties of artistic expression that would forever escape a Time Lord, were he to spend a millennium in contemplation of the same object."

The Leader sighed with pleasure.

"Indeed," he said, "we were hasty in our earlier attempts to destroy you. Tell me, are the sculptures of the First Terileptil Dynasty known to you?"

"Only by reputation," the Doctor said. He had gradually drawn closer to the two Terileptils and was now standing only a few feet from them.

"You must see some examples during your stay on Terileptus, Doctor," the subordinate suggested. "The subtle articulation of the pose of _The Defeated Conqueror_ is truly heartbreaking in its beauty."

"I shall keep that in mind," the Doctor said. "It reminds me of something else that you may consider beautiful, or may not."

"Oh? And what might that be, Doctor?" the Leader asked.

"The dead body of a Unicepter colonist that I found in one of your laboratories," the Doctor replied. "He appeared to be a security guard from the amusement park. You had not even bothered to close the door on him."

Both Terileptils stiffened. The change in the Time Lord's tone and manner was stunning. A moment before, he had been urbanely discussing art with them; now he was leaning towards them, his eyes gone cold and angry, more like a warrior than an aesthete.

"The young man fell atop our module when the communications dish was deployed to broadcast our demands," the Leader explained, taken aback despite himself. "We had no time to dispose of his body properly. In any war there are casualties. If necessary, all will be destroyed."

"Yes, and you will have achieved the glorious conquest of a dead planet," the Doctor retorted. "A warlike and strategically admirable accomplishment, perhaps. You will strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, present and future. But is it beautiful?"

The two Terileptils sat in stunned silence.

"The use of biological warfare on Unicepter would advance your species' military goals," the Doctor continued. "But it manifestly contradicts the other impulse that motivates the Terileptil race: the love of beauty. Is it beautiful to condemn innocent thousands to a fate so horrible and unpleasant? Is it aesthetically pleasing to unleash death into the air, carried slowly on the wind to bring torment and decay? You know as well as I that it is not!"

The Terileptil Leader rose to his feet, shaking with anger. Then he laughed.

"I can tell you of one thing that is beautiful, Time Lord," he said. "It is obedience to one's orders, the fulfilment of a military objective. We are warriors, and we shall accomplish our warriors' duty, by any means necessary."

"And I shall stop you, by any means necessary," the Doctor replied.

In a flash he had withdrawn from his pocket a green bracelet with a silver cylinder set into it. In another moment he had slipped the bracelet onto the Leader's thick hand. He then jumped between the Terileptils' chairs and the control panels, and began frantically flicking switches on one particular section of the bank of equipment.

The subordinate had also risen to his feet, and both Terileptils turned to face the Doctor. For a long moment the Leader stared down at the bracelet, which barely fitted around the front part of his hand. Then he laughed again.

"I congratulate you on your skill in identifying the panel that regulates the actions of our controlled subjects," the Leader said mockingly. "But your stratagem is useless. This is our own mind-control technology! We are not subject to its influence!"

The Leader flexed the muscles of his hand, allowing the bracelet to drop to the floor, where it shattered.

"That much is obvious," the Doctor admitted. "But controlling you was not the purpose I had in mind."

"Then what was that purpose?" the Leader demanded. Both he and his subordinate had now drawn their guns on the Doctor.

"A diversion," the Doctor said.

A moment later the Terileptils were both standing perfectly still, expressions of dreamy reverie on their faces. Their delicate eyelids slowly closed. On their shoulders were two brown, furry creatures, growling softly. In another moment the huge reptilian warriors had sunk back into their chairs, to all appearance deeply asleep.

The Doctor turned to beam at Sharon and Vernor, who had entered the room with the slinths while the Terileptils were distracted. An instant later his face filled with concern. Vernor, very much like the two Terileptils, had closed his eyes, sunk to his knees, and slumped sideways to the floor.

The countdown display read fifteen minutes.

**V**

There was a moment of blackness. Total stillness and timelessness, pleasant and yet unpleasant.

The Terileptil subordinate found himself in a forest of trees he did not recognise. They were tall, with thick trunks, and bore clusters of dark green needles. Looking down, he saw the ground powdered with a fine white substance, like delicate crystals of ice. Dark brown conical objects lay atop the powder. The subordinate bent down and picked one up, fascinated by its tiers of solid projections, somewhat reminiscent of the scales that covered his body, or the armour plating of a Terileptil spacecraft.

Then he became aware that something was falling through the air around him. Looking up, he saw an infinitude of small white crystals floating downwards toward the forest floor. This, he realised, must be the white powder that covered the ground. He had never seen anything like it before. It was strange, and new, and beautiful.

He looked more closely at one of the crystals as it drifted past him. With a dim, dreamy awareness that what he was seeing did not, perhaps, make sense, he perceived that the crystal was more than a crystal. It was an entire universe, made up of wheeling galaxies subject to laws of invariant elegance.

And in that universe there was life – a billion species like none he had seen or heard of, enacting a thousand trillion stories of adventure, of love, of war and glory. Even the most savage and horrible of the things he saw contributed to the beauty of the whole.

Some strange compulsion caused him to tear his attention away from the crystal, and focus instead on another falling near it. He saw another universe, similar to the first in some ways, utterly different in others. The stories that unfolded there sometimes paralleled the stories of the first crystal, and sometimes diverged from them in unexpected and fascinating ways.

As the subordinate gazed, enraptured, at crystal after crystal – all different, all unutterably intricate and beautiful – he became aware that there was a constant that linked all of them. Wherever he looked, he saw the same being in every universe, searching for something, as though its loneliness could not be satisfied until what it sought was found.

Would the Seeker ever find its goal? Where did the crystals come from? When they reached the forest floor, would they be destroyed, or melt together, or vanish and be reborn as new universes?

The Terileptil did not know the answers to these questions. He did, however, know one thing. He could quite happily stand in this forest, contemplating the crystal universes floating around him, for the rest of his life.

And so he did.

**VI**

"What's happened to him, Doctor? Why doesn't he wake up?"

"I was concerned that this might happen. Vernor is still psychically linked to Miki. He has entered the dream now being enjoyed by the Terileptil Leader, on whose shoulder he has placed his furry friend."

"But you said the Terileptils were supposed to enter an uncontrolled dream, without Dreaming equipment and without a Dreamer guiding it!"

"Indeed. As I told you, Sharon, that is why the Terileptils will never be able to leave their dream state."

"But then Vernor should have nothing to do with it! Why has he fallen asleep?"

"Miki's presence, I feel certain, is responsible. He has drawn Vernor into the dream with him, like a swimmer tied by a rope to a man on the shore."

"But we've got to do something, Doctor! Is there any way _we_ can enter the dream to rescue Vernor? Can the TARDIS enter dreamscapes?"

"On occasion, yes, Sharon, she can. However, in this instance there happens to be a simpler solution."

Twelve minutes remained.

**VII**

The Terileptil Leader stood in a large, strange space. A roof of glass, supported by curved iron girders, soared high above his head. Around him, tables and display cases lined a long, broad aisle. Humans dressed in ostentatious, unrevealing finery strolled slowly back and forth along the displays, talking in low voices. Strangely, none of them seemed taken aback in the slightest degree by his alien appearance.

Bemused, the Leader gazed down at the table before him. It bore rock and mineral samples, all neatly labelled. Although the presence of so many humans suggested Earth, or an Earth colony, the Leader recognised many of the samples as coming from elsewhere in the galaxy. One particularly beautiful specimen was labelled "Tinclavic. Unprocessed."

"A fascinating collection, is it not, sir?" said a voice from beside him.

The Leader turned to find an extremely small human standing next to him. It appeared to be an immature male, perhaps four or five years old. The top of the child's head did not quite reach the Leader's knee. Despite his small stature, however, the child was already unusually broad in the face and thick around the middle, where the human organ for the digestion of food was located. His eyes had a peculiarly faraway and yet introspective look, and although his voice was that of a child, his words were those of an adult.

"Allow me to welcome you to the Great Exhibition, good sir," the child said, each word perfectly articulated. "Is it not a splendid sight? The curiosities and inventions of the world gathered here in London, the city where Her Majesty Queen Victoria reigns. And yet nothing here is more curious than yourself, I should think."

"And what leads you to that conclusion?" the Leader asked, still puzzled.

"Alas, I cannot, perhaps, explain it clearly enough to satisfy you. Indeed, beyond the self-evident facts that you are a reptilian creature, that you come from a world somewhere in the most distant cosmic realms, and that you are a personage of some authority, but have recently had that authority challenged, I can perceive little else about you."

The Leader was astonished.

"How can you be aware of these things?" he asked.

"Your reptilian nature is apparent at first glance," the child said, cocking an eyebrow at him, "as is the fact that you correspond to no known species of Earth animal. And my mathematics tutor has convincingly argued to me that the other planets of our own Solar System are dead worlds – except for Mars, perhaps. He is an astronomical savant as well as a mathematical one, and is currently writing a treatise on 'The Dynamics of an Asteroid'. Your bearing would be unmistakeable in a member of any species as conveying military authority, while the agitation expressed by the flickering of your eyelids and the trembling of your nostrils suggests that that authority was recently threatened by some inferior or opponent."

The Leader was amazed by the child's articulate speech, but also irritated by his apparent smugness and arrogance.

"This Exhibition confirms me in my view of life," the child continued dreamily. "I need never leave England when I am a man, for the wonders of the world come to me here. I can observe the world from my armchair, and draw my own conclusions about the people in it. If I am thought wrong, what does it matter? I had rather move on to some other speculation than waste energy to prove myself correct."

The Leader could not have explained why it was only now that he remembered his weapon. He drew it forth from its pouch in his quilted cloak.

"See here, little human," he said. "I am a warrior of the Terileptil Empire, and I claim this building and this world for my people."

The child stared at him for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed merrily.

"What is so amusing?" the Leader demanded. "Why should I not shoot you and everyone else at this Exhibition of yours?"

"And why should you?" another voice asked.

The Leader looked up to see a dark-skinned adult male human approaching him along the aisle. He recognised the man as one of the two humans who had accompanied the Doctor on his first visit to the underground lab.

"Welcome, sir!" the child said to the man. "I perceive that you come from the future. The even weave of your clothing could not be created with the textile technology we now possess, not even with the new looms on display at this Exhibition."

"Look around you, Leader," the man said. "There is enough beauty here to occupy your mind for a lifetime. Not just the wonders of Earth that would have been found in the real Crystal Palace, but the wonders of the universe."

The Leader gazed around him. Nearby was a display of a hundred different kinds of alien birds, all singing strange and haunting songs in their cages. Across the aisle were flowers of unique shapes and delicate colours. A little farther along there appeared to be a display of ancient Terileptil sculpture. Only a handful of examples were known to survive from the earliest period of Terileptil history; here there were scores of them.

"Lose yourself in the beauty, Leader," the human man urged him. "If you think war is beautiful, there are weapons here that you've never seen before. But I think even you would admit that other things are beautiful, too."

The Leader slowly began to walk toward the display of sculpture, as though in a dream. _And perhaps I am dreaming_, he thought. His hand dropped to his side. The gun, having been forgotten, melted away.

For a moment the Leader turned back to the human man, to ask him a question.

"How long will it be possible for me to stay here?"

But the man had vanished, and it was the child who answered.

"Forever," said young Mycroft Holmes.

**VIII**

Vernor Allen awoke on the floor of the TARDIS, Sharon bending over him. The Doctor, seemingly unconcerned, was rapidly flicking switches on the control console.

"Vernor, are you all right?" Sharon asked.

"Forever... Forever..." Vernor murmured. Then his eyes snapped fully open. "Back in the – TARDIS?" he said hesitantly.

"The Doctor said if the two of us dragged you back in here, your psychic link to Miki would be cut off and you would wake up," Sharon said, smiling with relief.

"Fortunately, the psychic link was low-level," the Doctor added. "As I explained earlier, Vernor, the interior of the TARDIS occupies a separate space-time continuum from the universe outside. Only a psychic transmission as powerful as a telepathic message from one of my own people, or an entity of comparable power, would be able to penetrate the dimensional interface."

"Miki..." Vernor sighed. "I'm never going to see you again, old buddy, am I?"

Sharon placed her hand softly on Vernor's shoulder.

"We knew all along this would happen, Vernor," she said gently. "It was part of the Doctor's plan. And for the last year you thought you wouldn't see him again anyway. You never even searched the Slinth House to see if he was still alive."

"I always thought it was easier, not knowing if he had died in the Slinth Crisis or not. When I saw him last night, I never wanted him to leave me again."

"I'm so sorry, Vernor," Sharon said. "But you know it was necessary."

"I know..." Vernor said.

"I apologise for walking out during this emotional scene," the Doctor said, "but there is still the small matter of preventing Unicepter from becoming a dead planet."

Without another word, the Doctor opened the TARDIS door and hastily departed.

**IX**

By walking quickly through the darkened streets, Mr. Munipalt and the three security guards had reached the Hall of Government as the hour the Terileptils had given them neared its end. Munipalt half expected to find Lady Noham still standing immediately inside the door, and the other Councillors also where he had last seen them. Instead, the lobby of the building was dark, silent and empty.

Munipalt cautiously but hastily led the three young people up the stairs to the office of Ms. Kaleek, the Administrator. The door was ajar, and a faint light came from within.

Motioning to the others to remain outside, Munipalt cautiously eased the door open and edged through it. He expected to see Ms. Kaleek waiting impassively for him, her thick arms folded, the green bracelet around her wrist still glowing weirdly.

Instead, he found all five Councillors, plus Ms. Kaleek, bending over a small metal box on a side table. Lord Yelreeg was fiddling with the box, which was connected by a bundle of wires to a metal cylinder, like those set into the bracelets. Displays on the top of the box emitted a faint radiance. The six of them were still wearing their bracelets, but they were no longer glowing.

Getting to Ms. Kaleek with a single stride, Munipalt reached around her and pulled the bracelet off her wrist. Startled, she whirled to face him. She was clearly upset, her eyes red-rimmed from crying.

"That was a brave thing to do, Mr. Munipalt," she said as the Councillors turned to face him, "but it wasn't necessary. I'm not sure why, but we're no longer controlled."

Munipalt hesitated for a moment. Then he called out.

"You can come in now. It seems like it's safe."

The three security guards nervously entered the small room.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked. "What's Lord Yelreeg working on?"

"It's an old portable communications device," Lady Troucal explained. "Lord Yelreeg found it in the basement, while we were still being controlled."

"The Terileptils wanted us to use it to broadcast the surrender message," Lord Dhur added. "They instructed Lord Yelreeg on how to charge it up using the power pack from one of the bracelets we tried to give you, Munipalt."

"Hang on a minute," Munipalt objected. "If you're not being controlled any more, how does Lord Yelreeg remember how to do that?"

"It was so important to them that they impressed it permanently into my memory," Lord Yelreeg said, still connecting wires. "I'll probably remember how to do it ten years from now."

"But you would have surrendered if you were still controlled," Munipalt said. "You're not going to surrender now, are you?"

Yelreeg met Munipalt's gaze.

"What else can we do?" he asked hopelessly. "We ordered the military and the police to stand down hours ago, before the power went out. The rest of us don't remember it, but Meli does because we were being controlled through her, apparently."

"Once they heard the message from the aliens, though, wouldn't they mobilise again?" Sally asked.

"It's like I said before, Sally," Tommy answered grimly. "It doesn't matter if they mobilise or not. None of their equipment will be working after what the aliens did. They can't make any difference."

"But we can't just give the planet up to them!" Munipalt said hotly.

"Would you rather be dead?" Ms. Kaleek asked quietly.

Everyone turned to look at her. In the dim light from the communications unit, her deep-set eyes glistened with tears.

"I was very sick last year," she said hesitantly. "Colony fever, they called it. No one knows what it really is. It's a miracle I'm still alive. If I learned anything from that awful time, it was that while there's life there's hope."

She looked directly at each of the others for a moment. Munipalt had often found her difficult to deal with, but he could not deny the power of her words now.

"If we're conquered, we can fight back, or the other colonies can send help. If we're dead, no one can help us. Please. We must send the surrender message."

There was a moment of silence.

"How much longer do we have?" Lady Ewor asked.

"Five minutes," Lu replied, holding up her wrist so they could all see her glow-in-the-dark Moonrise Amusement Park watch.

"We can live to fight another day," Munipalt said quietly.

Lord Yelreeg hesitated for only a moment longer. Then he spoke into a grille on the top of the metal box.

"Terileptil Leader," he said, "this is Lord Yelreeg of the Unicepter City Council. We surrender unconditionally to the Terileptil Empire. All governmental authority in the human Unicepter colony is hereby dissolved. All military and paramilitary units have stood down. I repeat: we surrender unconditionally."

**X**

Trevor Allen squeezed the trigger of his revolver again. Another slinth tumbled to the floor and lay still. But the doorway of the Slinth House control room remained full of enraged slinths, surging towards Trevor and his two fellow keepers in a seemingly endless series of waves.

"I still don't understand why we don't just get out of here, like your brother and his wife, and that other guy," Billy Sul yelled as he repeatedly fired his rifle at the approaching slinths.

"It's our job to keep these creatures under control, Billy," Trevor yelled back. "Besides, if the slinths could somehow find a way out of the building, they'd go rampaging through the city again."

"It's easy for you to call them 'creatures'," Andrew Calla said bitterly as he shot another slinth. "You were never a Dreamer. You never learned to love them like we did."

"I don't think this is the best time for this argument," Trevor said, firing again. They had already gone through three-quarters of the ammunition Trevor had found in the storage cabinets with the guns, and the main storeroom, their only possible source of a further supply, remained inaccessible.

"How could they leave the building?" Billy asked. "They can't exactly open the doors, now, can they?"

Trevor was simultaneously aiming at another slinth and attempting to frame a withering reply when he noticed that the advancing pile of slinths was changing shape. Billy and Andrew saw it, too.

"Are they doing what I think they're doing?" Andrew breathed.

The slinths were clinging to each other's bodies, their furry forms coalescing into a single larger shape. It was a shape that was all too familiar to Trevor Allen.

"A Terileptil..." he whispered. "Just like they combined themselves into a giant devil during the Slinth Crisis, now they're making a Terileptil!"

He looked at his two colleagues. They both appeared to be paralysed with terror. In a flash, Trevor realised the Doctor had been wrong: he was not the only slinth keeper in whose mind the aliens had placed their image. Andrew and Billy also had that terrifying vision in the backs of their minds, buried more deeply than it had been in his. Unlike Trevor, they had not recognised the name "Terileptil" when the Doctor mentioned it, but they knew one when they saw one.

"Andrew! Billy!" Trevor said desperately. "It's not real! It's just a conglomeration of slinths, like the devil we all saw a year ago! They're feeding on your fear, because they can sense the picture of the Terileptil in your minds!"

Andrew and Billy remained open-mouthed, in a state of shock. The furry Terileptil lumbered closer. Its wide mouth gaped open, revealing, not the unexpectedly square and even teeth of the reptilian creature Trevor had seen in his mind, but the sharp fangs of a slinth.

Trevor tossed aside his revolver and the Doctor's match, which instantly went out, leaving him in total darkness. He grabbed Andrew's rifle, and fired, and fired again, determined to protect his friends to the last.

**XI**

The Doctor charged out of the TARDIS, down the corridor and back into the Terileptils' control room, his long coat a blur of multicoloured patchwork. The Leader and his subordinate were still dreaming in their chairs, the two slinths resting serenely on their shoulders. The Doctor heard the desperate voice of a male human from a speaker grille on one of the control panels:

"Terileptil module, do you read? Unicepter has surrendered! This surrender is unconditional! Are you receiving us?"

After a quick search, the Doctor found the ladder, broad and strong enough for a Terileptil to climb, that led to the upper chamber of the module. He rapidly ascended it and found himself standing in front of the launch tube that contained the capsule with the biological weapon. The countdown timer next to it read three minutes.

An examination of the nearby computer console revealed that the Terileptil Leader had set the countdown on fail-safe. It could not be terminated without the Leader's password, which the Doctor had no way of guessing.

The Doctor turned again to the launch mechanism itself. Clearly, any attempt to disable or destroy it, especially without his sonic driver, might result either in releasing the pathogens prematurely or exposing the Doctor himself to them.

The Doctor hastily descended the ladder to the control room. The voice was still frantically transmitting Unicepter's surrender, but, of course, receiving no reply. The countdown display read two minutes.

For a long moment the Doctor stood in the centre of the room, his eyes closed, a calm expression on his face, as though attempting to remember something. Then he stepped between the sleeping Terileptils and over to the central computer control panel. After examining the keyboards and displays for a moment, he began to flick switches and depress buttons in a complex sequence. He worked carefully, without haste. By the time he had finished, the countdown had reached one minute.

**XII**

"Terileptil control, do you acknowledge? I repeat: this is an unconditional surrender! Please confirm that you are not about to release your biological weapon!"

Lord Yelreeg looked up from the communication unit, his white moustache soaked with sweat. Lu was staring at her glow-in-the-dark watch as though there were nothing else in the universe.

"How long?" Munipalt asked.

"Less than a minute," Lu answered.

**XIII**

The Doctor stepped over to another computer panel. He was nearly certain that it was the one that controlled the transmat device which had brought the module down from the warship in orbit. He could still see the countdown timer out of the corner of his eye; it read forty-five seconds.

After a rapid scan of the controls, the Doctor pushed a series of buttons. He frowned as, apparently, nothing happened. Thirty seconds remained.

"Of course!" he exclaimed in frustration. "That was for the little androids."

He pushed another series of buttons. All the lights in the underground module began to flash on and off. At the same moment, a simulated female Terileptil voice began to count down to the launch of the weapon.

"Twenty... nineteen... eighteen..."

The Doctor checked once more that he had pressed the correct series of buttons, and then turned for the last time to the two sleeping Terileptils.

"'We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep,'" he quoted.

"Twelve... eleven... ten..."

The Doctor dashed out the door of the control room and back to the TARDIS.

"Seven... six... five..."

As the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS door, the entire module began to shudder around him. The Doctor hurried inside, shouting to Sharon to shut the doors.

A few seconds later, there was no corridor around the TARDIS, only a vast chasm of earth and rock. Soil began to rain down on the Police Box, soon engulfing it in a tidal wave of earth.

**XIV**

The Terileptil module vanished from its position under the Moonrise Amusement Park, leaving a yawning cavity in its wake, where the soil had been displaced by its arrival.

It was fortunate that the amusement park was now quite empty of visitors and employees. The ground on which it was built collapsed inward, filling the sinkhole and the further gap that had now opened under it. In less than a minute, the mighty roller-coaster, the Ruined Walls of Rigel VI, and all of the park's other attractions had disappeared into a crater half a mile wide.

**XV**

On the bridge of the orbiting warship, a Terileptil officer stared in surprise at the ship schematic on the wall.

"The lab module has rematerialised aboard this vessel, Leader."

The Warship Leader – the superior officer of the Leader who had been transmatted down to Unicepter in the module – spun in his chair to see the schematic for himself. He was furious.

"Why have they returned? They have not reported the surrender of the planet!"

Alarms sounded shrilly. Another officer spoke with panic in his voice.

"Biological agent released from the module's launch device!"

The Warship Leader sprang to his feet, activating a communications link to the module.

"Under-Leader! What is your situation? What do you think you have done?"

There was, of course, no answer. And then the Warship Leader's crew began to die.

The biological agent was deadly to all known forms of organic life in the galaxy. Including Terileptils.

END OF PART FIVE

Mycroft Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.


	6. Conclusions

**Dreamers of Beauty**

This story serves as a sequel to the _Doctor Who Magazine_ comic strip "Dreamers of Death" by Steve Moore and the TV story "The Visitation" by Eric Saward. Brimo the Time Witch is the title character of the _Doctor Who Weekly_ comic strip "The Time Witch" by Steve Moore. I do not own the characters of the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor Allen, or the Terileptils.

I would like to acknowledge the influence of the _Doctor Who Magazine_ comic strip "The Love Invasion", by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman, on one of the plot elements of this story's final two chapters.

_Doctor Who_ is a trademark of the BBC.

**Part Six: Conclusions**

**I**

Several residents of Unicepter City were puzzled on that memorable morning by a strange arrival in their home or office: a small android, resembling a child of unearthly beauty, and holding a peculiar green bracelet in its hand. The androids were covered with what looked like gemstones, but were subsequently discovered to be manufactured from a mineral compound not yet developed by humanity.

The appearance of the androids was eerie. But, since they did not move and appeared to pose no danger, their recipients soon got over their fear of them. It seemed that they were designed to be controlled by an external intelligence, which was now lacking. A few households ended up displaying them as pieces of sculpture.

**II**

Trevor Allen had had to drag Andrew and Billy backwards towards the control panels as he heard the Slinth Terileptil advance toward them. In another moment it would be upon them. Closing his eyes, Trevor raised the rifle one last time.

The darkness was suddenly rent by a strange wheezing, groaning sound, like nothing Trevor had ever heard before. Opening his eyes, he saw the bizarre shape of the _faux_ Terileptil dimly illuminated by a small white light, flashing cheerfully atop a tall blue box that nestled in the corner of the room as though it had always been there.

A moment later, the Terileptil collapsed inward upon itself. Slinths tumbled to the floor and rolled across the room, their growls rapidly diminishing in volume and intensity. They seemed to be once again falling asleep.

"What happened?" Billy asked. Trevor saw with relief that he and Andrew had come out of their trance and were staring in confusion at the slinth-strewn floor.

"I think it's over," Trevor said. "I don't know how or why, but it's over."

The door of the blue box opened. The Doctor poked his head out into the room, a cheerful expression on his broad face.

"Trevor!" he said. "All well here?"

Vernor and Sharon pushed their way out past the Doctor. Trevor carefully placed the rifle on the floor and hugged his brother hard.

"There, you see, Vernor?" the Doctor said. "I told you you'd see him today."

"But I still don't understand, Doctor," Sharon said. "I know the two Terileptils we met will be dreaming for the rest of their lives with those slinths on their shoulders, but what about the other Terileptils in orbit? And why have the slinths here gone dormant again?" she added, looking around the room. "Surely the power to the psychic field hasn't come on again?"

"As for the slinths, Sharon, I simply projected the TARDIS' telepathic field externally to tranquillise them throughout this building, the same way I had used it to keep Miki and the other slinth under control. As for the Terileptils, they've rather been hoist by their own petard, shall we say."

"What do you mean by that?" Vernor asked.

"I reversed the transmat controls in the underground module. Approximately one second before the plague would have been launched into Unicepter's atmosphere, the lab instead rematerialised aboard the Terileptil mother-ship and released the biological agents there. The lab module itself is sealed off, but the pathogens will have spread through the rest of the spacecraft."

"You mean you killed every Terileptil on the ship?" Sharon asked, stunned. "Blimey, I don't remember you being so ruthless, Doctor!"

The Doctor stepped toward Sharon through the dimness of the room, carefully avoiding the slumbering slinths on the floor. His face was uncharacteristically serious.

"Believe me, Sharon, I had no choice," he said. "In none of my incarnations have I relished the taking of life, human or otherwise. Although I must admit that, in this instance, I felt some satisfaction in seeing the Terileptils destroyed with their own weapon."

"I guess I can understand that, Doctor," Sharon said slowly. "There wasn't any other way, was there?"

"No, Sharon. I regret to say there wasn't."

"The important thing is that Unicepter is free and safe," Vernor said.

"How's that for a slice of fried gold?" Andrew asked.

Trevor gave him another puzzled look.

"Sorry. That was another truly obscure reference," he said, embarrassed. "I apologise."

"Never apologise for your cultural knowledge – Andrew, was it?" the Doctor said, turning to him. "If I expressed regret whenever someone failed to understand me, I would have little time for anything else."

"That's for sure," Sharon said, smiling.

The Doctor smiled back.

"Back in the TARDIS, then?" Vernor asked, having satisfied himself that his brother and the others were all right.

"As it happens, Vernor, that would not be feasible at the moment. My ship will have to remain here until repairs are made to Unicepter's power grid, to ensure the slinths pose no danger."

"What's the plan, then?" Sharon asked.

"I would suggest a long, pleasant walk back to your house, Sharon," the Doctor said. "If the sun has not yet risen, it should be doing so sometime soon."

**III**

Seven days had passed. With repairs to Unicepter City's power and communications systems largely completed, the City Council was once again holding a meeting at the Hall of Government.

"Our robotics technicians tell us it may take another fortnight to get the farming equipment outside the city working again," Lady Troucal was saying. "However, we have requested an emergency shipment of food supplies from Galactic Central, so that should get us over the gap in production."

"I have also asked the military to report the Terileptil vessel to Galactic Central as a plague ship," Lord Yelreeg added. "They will tag it as such and transport it to another sector of space."

"That was well thought of, My Lord," the Doctor said, rising from his seat. "However, it was not actually necessary. The Terileptil craft is now far away from Unicepter."

"How do you know that, Doctor?" Lord Yelreeg asked. "The military's tracking equipment is not yet working, and even when it was it failed to detect the warship."

"I checked on the scanner in my own personal transport," the Doctor explained. "But even if I had not done so, I would know about the departure of the Terileptil death ship. It was my doing."

"Was that wise?" Lady Ewor asked, somewhat alarmed. "If anyone tries to pick up the ship for salvage, they could spread the contagion."

"I hardly think so, My Lady," the Doctor replied. "When I was in the control room of the underground module, I programmed the Markham Paradigm into the main computer."

"The Markham Paradigm?" Lady Noham asked, puzzled.

"A fascinating concept in the field of artificial intelligence, pioneered by an old friend of mine. The Markham Paradigm causes a computer or neural network to seek out new ideas, new information and technology, no matter how primitive or advanced the hardware programmed with it may itself be. When the lab was transmatted back onto the warship, the module computer transferred the Markham Paradigm to the ship's computer. With the crew dead, the computer was left in sole control of the Terileptil spacecraft."

"So it flew off into outer space, seeking out new life and new civilisations?" Sharon interjected. She and Vernor were seated beside the Doctor. Mr. Munipalt, who seemed uncharacteristically quiet, was also present.

"More or less," the Doctor agreed. "Since the Terileptils have already acquired a thorough knowledge of this galaxy – even the parts they have not yet attempted to conquer – the computer will have to search elsewhere for the shock of the new. It should now be piloting the warship toward the Andromeda Galaxy – a journey of, oh, a few millennia, I suppose."

"That's enough science for me for one meeting," Lady Noham said, rolling her eyes. "Motion to adjourn."

As the meeting broke up, Lords Yelreeg and Dhur approached Munipalt.

"Bill, you know the next City Council election is coming up soon," Yelreeg said. "John and I have decided to let you know, if you want to run, we'll endorse you."

"I don't know, Al," Munipalt said. "I still feel bad about agreeing to surrender to the Terileptils."

"We were all there, Munipalt," Lord Dhur said. "We all agreed. There was no viable alternative."

"How about it, Bill?" Yelreeg asked, a smile on his broad red face. "Wouldn't you like to be called 'Lord Munipalt'?"

"You do have an impressive resume, you know," Dhur added. "For one thing, you graduated university in only one year."

"I'm still not sure," Munipalt said. "The public seem satisfied with the three Ladies controlling the Council's votes. I'll probably lose."

Vernor was passing Munipalt and the two Lords on his way out. He overheard the last part of the exchange.

"I'll vote for you, Mr. Munipalt," he said. "As for whether you'll win or not, well, as Sherlock Holmes would say, 'We can but try.'"

**IV**

The Doctor had at last been able to dematerialise his TARDIS from the control room of the Slinth House, where the power had come back on, enabling the keepers to reactivate the psychic field. The Police Box was now sitting outside Vernor and Sharon's home. The Doctor had arrived a bit later than they expected, looking embarrassed and muttering something about having encountered a female history professor on the way. The three of them were now having a cup of tea in the kitchen.

"You're still a bit sad about Miki, aren't you?" Sharon asked, seeing her husband's smile falter a bit during a lull in the conversation.

"Yeah," Vernor admitted. "Don't get me wrong – I know he's doing a good thing, and that he helped save Unicepter. But it's still a shame he has to be exiled permanently like that."

"Miki is doing what he did with you, Vernor," the Doctor said. "He's helping someone dream. The Terileptil love of beauty is so potent that the Leader will keep Miki nourished with emotional energy for years. Neither your friend nor his mammalian colleague will ever again have to feed on negative emotions like fear and anger, as they did during the Slinth Crisis. Those feelings are strong in humans, but not as strong as the joy in beauty experienced by the Terileptils."

"And yet they're warmongers."

"As I have said before, Vernor, the Terileptils are a race full of contradictions. They're much like humanity in that respect, if I may say so without offence."

There was a long, thoughtful silence, which was broken by Sharon.

"Doctor," she said hesitantly, "there's something I've been thinking about ever since you arrived last week. There's a huge favour I would like to ask you."

"Yes, Sharon?"

"Do you think you could take a message to my parents that I'm all right?"

The Doctor frowned.

"I admit that my knowledge of family affairs is somewhat limited," he said. "However, I have to say I'm not sure they would ever understand. Especially not about your, ahem, 'growing up'."

Vernor leaned forward in his chair, a serious expression on his face but a glint of amusement in his eyes. Sharon had often told him about her encounter with Brimo the Time Witch and its bizarre result.

"I think what Sharon is trying to tell you is –" he said.

"That I've already written a letter to them," Sharon finished. "Vernor's helped me write it, actually, over the months we've been married. I've been waiting all this time for you to come back so I could give it to you."

She picked up an envelope from the table and handed it to the Doctor.

"Please, Doctor – just deliver it," she said. "I'll never know if they'll understand or not, but I want them to know I'm alive. The family of that security guard who fell into the sinkhole are heartbroken that they couldn't recover his body. I don't want Mum and Dad to go through that."

The Doctor solemnly took the envelope and placed it in the inside pocket of his coat.

"At what time would you like me to deliver it?" he asked.

"Long enough after I left so they'll understand I've grown up a bit," Sharon said. "But not too long."

**V**

Later that afternoon, after a last hug for Sharon and a last handshake for Vernor, the Doctor stepped into his TARDIS. Standing on the front doorstep of the house, Vernor squeezed Sharon's hand as the familiar blue shape dematerialised. After a few seconds, however, it reappeared. The Doctor stuck his head out again.

"Sorry!" he shouted. "I set the coordinates for Blackcastle. I need to remember – to get to Blackcastle, set the controls for Unicepter! _Au revoir!_"

Sharon and Vernor laughed as the Police Box disappeared again. Both guessed that it wouldn't be the last time they saw the Doctor.

**VI**

Dear Mum and Dad,

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write. You both must have been worried nearly to death about me. I should have contacted you a long time ago, and I can't defend the fact that I didn't. There are reasons why, but you wouldn't believe them. Please believe me when I say that.

You know I always said I wanted to leave home when I turned 18, see the world. Well, I left a little early. I've seen the world and then some. At first I meant to come back, but I've grown up a lot since I've been gone, and now I have responsibilities keeping me here.

I'm living a long way from home now – too far to come visit, or even call, I'm afraid. I hope this letter makes up for that a bit. I might be able to write you again sometime, but the mail service here is a bit irregular.

I've gotten married. I know you'll say I'm awfully young, but I'm not that much younger than you were, Mum. And I've found the most wonderful man in the universe. Believe me, Mum, that's saying something. I met lots of people while I was travelling, but when I met Vernor, I didn't need to travel any more.

I hope you can forgive me. And even if you can't, I wanted you to know that I'm happy. You always said that was a very important thing.

Say hello to Fudge and everyone else for me. I miss you both every day. Happy times and places.

Lots of love,

Sharon

**VII**

In the TARDIS control room, the Doctor practically danced around the central console, navigating his time-craft back to Blackcastle, England, in the early 1980s. Sharon's letter was safely tucked inside his coat. He joyfully whistled a tune, one he had not thought of for a long time.

And on the plague ship, inside the sealed laboratory module, two Terileptils sat fast asleep in their chairs, both with slinths nestled comfortably on their shoulders, dreaming of beauty.

THE END


End file.
